FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
ROBERT
T?
Kennedy
PART 1 OF 9
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To* OaMIiTCmae ACTION*
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1MMUWX0N F2BL0
- COVES* NCBBRT FRANCIS KENNEDY, ATTORNEY, CRZXXHAL DIVISION.
^jboRBSfii ONE TVOTVO S0WD02N WH E W , BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS r kfiV
November twenty, ianm mm rm, boston, Massachusetts* /.-.*•
VERIFY. EDUCATION! HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., SKFZEH*
BB| 70RTT SIX TO FEBRUARY, FORTY EIGHT, BECXIVED B* A, DEGREE)
BATES COLLEGE, LBVISTOR, MAINE, NOVEMBER | FORTY FO® TO JUKE, FOBS
FIVE. ASCERTAIN IF ADMITTED TO BAB. EMPLOYMENT! UNEMPLOYED, AT
PRESENT TIME. VERIFY ACTIVITIES, RELATIVES IN GOVERNMENT SERVICE
. JCBN FITZGERALD KENNEDY, ORE TWO TWO BOWDOXN ST*. BOSTON. MASS*.
- • - . • • C ******* **> / - ; f >
BROTHER, FEDERAL GOVT^ 7 REFERENCES I JOBS J* FORD, TWO SIX NAUGHT
- TREMOR ST.| BARTHOLOJCV A. BRICXIZY, ONE FEDERAL ST RE ET \ BOR*
WILLIAM I* MCCARTHY, FEDERAL DIET* COURT, FEDERAL BLDO., ALL BOSTQ!
MASSACHUSETTS*
RICHMOND \ r j _ _ ;r • :
?■ • *' m \ ' 1$ ’ ’ - ■ *
EDUCATION! VIRGINIA LAV SCHOOL, CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va'*, SEPTEMBER,
FORTY EIGHT TO JOSE, FIFTY OS, RECEIVED LL*B* DEGREE* ASCERTAIN
• IF ADMITTED TO BAR, • •*
MILITARY SERVICE! UNITED STATES^ NAVY PABEX. Tg f^F&U^sRlGHT , SEVEN
SEVEN, TWO SEVEN, USKR, KARCE/TO JUNE, Nj)^I^/c^ s ^I* 3
■ y * mimd VS 1
SBWri»i ' JflBN FITZG|^
TWO BCWDOIl^j,, Ba'jTON, MASS., BROTHER, FEDERAL OOVT^^SUTEL " \j
SEPTEMBER TWENTY. 6UREP SEPTEMBER TWENTY TUO.A<rA_j W* *
sE^ m 0 cam»eamm B0C T i ^
5
BPS: CL
JMttral Bureau af inwHy rttet
(nftrit ItatM Brpartmntt af f nstfre
FBI RICHMOND 9-15-51 ' ‘ Tiae " -T
SAC NORFOLK URGENT
COVES. ROBERT FRAHCIS KENNEDY, ATTORNEY, CRIMINAL DIVISION. 4
**:. . ; * . : .
m • * - . ■
SUTKL SEPTEMBER TWENTY. SURKP SEPTEMBER TWENTXTVO. APPLICANT
RESIDES BOSTON, MASS* BORN NOVEMBER TWENTY TWENTTFIVE, BOSTON.
ATTENDED HARVARD UNIVERSITY AND UNIVERSITY OP VIRGINIA LAV
SCHOOL. INDICES RICHMOND REFLECT ONI, NORFOLK, CHECKED
APPLICANT -S NAME THROUGH RICHMOND INDICES JANUARY FIFTYONE.
. .> , is 4 ' • •
NORFOLK REPORT ANT PERTINENT INFORMATION. ; ’ ’ /
AUERBACH
fiOT RECORDED
JOSEPH? tWBI
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FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
77-662
■GRFCXJL
9 / 18/51 9/17/51
JEffil 9. BARB. A.
1BFABTMEKTAL APPLICANT
Attorney, Grinina! Division
SYNOPSIS OP PACTS:
. REC'D_
’I FORT*.
File* of Hip another Oops rat at agency,
reflect background investigation conducted
2/51 based on' applicant** application for
i comission In USSR as laul Intelligence
— • Specialist. Report favorable and nothing
r -3 derogatory nentioned therein.
- ROC -
REJTREHCE:
Rlchnond teletype to lorfolk dated Seotehber 15. 1951.
IS TAILS:
AT RORFQLK, VIRGHIA:
Files of •“Other Oovernnent
agency which conducts security investigations, reflected background investiga-
tion was conducted in February, 1951, based on applicant's application for
a comiss Ion in the DERR as a Kaval Intelligence Specialist. The report
reflected that faculty nenbers at the University of Virginia renarked favorably
concerning applicant and his educational background was verified at that school.
Nothing derogatory was nentioned in applicant's file.
.1
KEPSRBED UPGR CCMPUSTICH TO TBS OFFICE OF CRIGH -
DO NOT WHITT M 1
ptorErrr or rst-iws confidential trrotr add its contests aie ioanes to you tr the fbi and ane not to se distorted outside of
ASENCY TO WHICH LOANED. *
.^v
FBI, RICHMOND
.DIRECTOR, FBI
X - . KTtyfPTAU
X ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY, DAPLI, jixiwwti, wuniimi.
.jafiK ATTENDED U. OF FA. . DEPARTMENT OF LAW, CHARLOTTESVILLE, FA*,
•rtTrmrD cirrmuTW NTNTTEFN FORTYEIGHT TO JUNE ELEVENTH NINETEEN
«b< •••••••■■•*■'* *’ -
FIFTY ONE WHEN GRADUATED AND AWARDED LLB DEGREE* RANKED
FIFTY SIXTH IN CLASS OF ONE HUNDRED TWENTY FOUR HAVING EARNED
SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE GRADES* JMHBK FORMER PROFESSORS AND
ACQUAINTANCES RECOMMEND AS TO CHARACTER, REPUTATION AND LOYALTY
AND DESCRIBE AS INTELLIGENT AND MATURE, POSSESSES AVERAGE KNOWLEDGE
OF LAW, EXCELLENT J0HPMRKC POISE AND SELF CONFIDENT* RECOMMEND
......a .•■tuff KtWfKft^TABV
FOR POSITION SOUGHT. NO CRIMINAL KECQKfl AND HKLUl 4 MU’"* MIW/bwivii.
AT CHARLOTTESVILLE, FA. NO RECORD OF APPLICANT HAVING TAKEN VIRGINIA
did my
PflA MW4I
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AUERBACH
END
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Mr. McMi..
Mr. (Vacy . — „
Mr. BarM *.,
Mr. *Mlr»
Mr. Prlw-fM
Mr. Lr^tl.i
Mr. M*kr ....
T*W i
WASHINGTON
Director
80
7-03 F
MAB
9 FROM BOSTON v
DEFERRED
ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY* ATTORNEY* CRIMINAL DIVISION* DAPLI*
REBUTEL SEPT. FOURTEEN LAST. RECORDS, BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS*
STATE HOUSE* BOSTON* MASS.* AND BOSTON CITY HALL* DO NOT REFLECT
ANY ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY BORN IN BOSTON OR MASSACHUSETTS FROM
NINETEEN TWENTY TO NINETEEN THIRTY. ATTENDED BATES COLLEGE,
LEWISTON, MAINE* NOV., FORTYFOUR, TO FEB., FORTYFIVE, UNDER ARMY
V TWELVE PROGRAM. RECORD FAVORABLE* TRANSFERRED IN GOOD STANDING
TO HARVARD COLLEGE. NO ONE AT BATES COLLEGE RECALLED APPLICANT.
BATES COLLEGE RECORDS SHOW APPLICANT BORN NOV* TWENTY* NINETEEN
TWENTYFIVE AT BOSTON* MASS. RECORD ON APPLICANT AT HARVARD UNIV.*
CAMBRIDGE* MASS.* WHERE HE ATTENDED SEPT.* FORTYSIK TO FEB.*
FORTYEIGHT* RECEIVING BA DEGREE* FAVORABLE. NO RECORD OF ADMISSION
TO THE BAR* MASSACHUSETTS CLERK-S OFFICE* SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF
mSS.#* SHOWS ROBERT F. KENNEDY APPLIED FOR ADMISSION TO THE MASS.
jPAR JULY NINETEEN* FIFTYONE. APPLICANT PRESENTLY BEING EXAMINED
FOR SAID ADMISSION.
END PAGE ONE
' ft
itki,
deferences recommend applicant hichlt. neichborhood investication
.favorable. credit record favorable, no criminal record, ruc.
thobnton
HOLD PLS
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
m«r BUREAU
RICHMOND
ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY
» ^ -
77-4253
JESSE C. HALL, JR. Jchjpb
DEPARTMENTAL APPLICANT,
ATTORNEY, CRIMINAL DIVISION
arNOPMOPPACTB!
n &L-& -<
AOtotc AjA l
rec'd
Applicant attended U. of Va., Dept, of
Law, Charlottesville, Va., 9/16/48 to
6/11/51 when graduated and awarded LL.B
degree. He ranked 56th In a claes of
124 , having earned slightly above average
grades. Fonts r professors and acquain-
tances re coma end as to character, reputa-
q tlon and loyalty and describe as Intelligent
and mature, possesses average knowledge of
C5* law, excellent poise and self confident.
1? They r e c onoa end for position sought. No
L. criminal record and credit rating satis-
factory at Charlottesville, Va. No record
of applicant having taken Va. Bar exam.
- RUC -
REFERENCE: Bureau teletype dated 9-14-51*
DETAILS:
5*2-
VT CHARLOTTESVILLE. VIRGINIA
EDUCATION
Registrar's Office,
i&epzpjui&nt of Law, University of Virginia, advised her
Iji&ebrdk reflect the applicant was born November 20, 1925,
at Boston, Massachusetts. He entered the Department of
Law on September 16, 1946* attending until June 11, 1951#
at which time he was graduated and conferred the LL.B. Degree.
According to the record he earned a scholastic average of .
tmrcm « tw-thi* cmfidmtul itrorr and in comm me loaned to ro
MCKY TO MUCH UMRtO. *
nu rm aid me aor to oe distributed outside of
of Law. Univ
_ . - - - he applicant as an intelligent and
mature young man whom they believed to possess excellent
po*se, a sense of s elf-confidence and average technical
knowledge of the law as well as excellent common sense.
They all recommended him for the position sought.
' CREDIT
advised her records reflect the applicant -to have a
RH 77-1*253
•atlsfactory credit rating there
adviaed his «WPd^ak^^5r!55nce to the applicant.
MISCELLANEOUS
Bar State
?he r Bar r S*l f ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY a,. r having
Bar in tKl? ru." 8 been adnltted t0 «» Virginia
REFERRED UPON COMPLETION TO THE OFFICE OF ORIGIN -
uu
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
BUREAU
77-37011
WASHINGTON, D. C. 1 9/Sl/'51 9/17,19,20/51 GEORGE P.^AITRUM, JR. GPD:
tfiOBERT
FRANCIS EENNEDT
DEPARTMENTAL APPLICANT
Attorney, Criminal Division
■YNOWt or FACTS:
dU
AOEHCt-Miis
Hit. fTC'IL
***** \im4
■Oh
CSC and HCUA negative re applicant. Nothing
derogatory ONI. Applicant *s brother veri-
fied as Congressman. Credit and criminal
negative re brother*
- RUC -
REFERENCES: Bureau file 77-51337*
Bureau teletype dated September 14> 1951*
DETAILS: AT WASHINGTON. D. C.
Special Employee EDMUND J. EIDEN has advised there is
no record of the applicant in the files of the Investigations
Division, Civil Service Commission*
Special Employee FRED T. GHEEN has advised that the files
of the House Committee on Un-American Activities were checked
against the name of the applicant with negative results*
v-
A - * - - *
Special Employee ROBERT S. MUGAVIN advised that the files
of the Office of Naval Intelligence reflect a request for a back-
ground investigation of the applicant was made in June, 1949, in
connection with his application for a commission. Reports of the
Sixth Naval District at Miami, Florida, and the Fifth Naval District
at Norfolk, Virginia, were received and disclosed no derogatory
information concerning the applicant*
(j2
'0:
ci- ^/yA /
fNOfENTY OF CONFIDENTIAL «frO»T AND ITS CONTENTS ABE LOANED TO tOU »Y THE FBI AND ABE HOT TO •£ DISTRIBUTED OUTSIDE OF
A6CNCY TO WHICH LOANED.
* .
*F0 77-37011
Information in the Congressional Directory reflects
J'fchat the applicant 1 s brother, JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY, has been
Cra member of the United States House of Representatives since his
.^‘•lection November 5# 1946, from the Eleventh District of
. -Massachusetts*
*
Special Employee VALTER JAMES TOLSON advised that the
files of the District of Columbia Credit Bureau were negative
concerning the name of JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY*
Special Employee NICHOLAS R. MANFREDA advised that
the files of the Metropolitan Police Department. Washington,
D* C. , were negative concerning the name of JOHN FITZGERALD
KENNEDY.
The Bureau has advised that a search of the Central
Files of the FBI has been made and no Information of a derogatory
nature concerning loyalty which could be identified with the
applicant was found*
REFERRED UPON COMPLETION TO THE OFFICE OF ORIGIN
*
- 2 -
ROBERT FRANCIS ONMOT, ATTOKNEI, CRIMINAL DIVISION. munrn t» $
8EP7QIBEB FOURTEEN, NINETEEN HU1DRSD FIFTT OK. BOSS MUVEHBBR JWKNTT,
MIMBT£EN HOTDRBD TWENTT FIVE, boston, mass. SERVED USB, MARCH, *
MDfcTSEH HUNDRED FORIT FOUR TO JUNE, BINE TEEN HUNDRED PQSTT SIX, MSI,
WO FOUR EIGHT DASH SEVEN SEVER SASH TWO SEVEN. BBOORDS NWC, OAHTFN
CITT, IT, REFLECT KV TRSCOR D CHARGED OUT JULT TWENTT, RUffiTEBN
. HUJDRED FIFTT OK. PR ESENTLY LOCATE D, CARE OF, MC INTOSH, BUREAU
OP R IVAL PERS ONNE L, WA SHINGTON, D. C. STJTEL SeP TOiwt P -iwyv TTy^
SUREP SEP731BSR TWENTY SEOOND. RANDLE. RUC.
CC* BUREAU
SfflEIDT
JWDiMAH
77-13906 -
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Office Memorandum • united states government
DIRECTOR, FBI
PIOM^
^ S*C,
BOSTON
ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY
DAPLI
Attorney, Criminal Division
9/21/51
There mre being forwarded herewith three copies of the
Report of SA LOUIS E. BEIGBEDER dated 9/21/51 in the
above-eaptioned ease.
By reason of the apparent lack of pertinence of this
incident to the investigation, it has not been included
in the investigative report on the Applicant.
r f , 1 ■ LHB/ner
77-5215
255 ^ 1 *'Encs.
7 /
R 2 CEfci ot •!
J SIPI IF.
. 0 -
0
V )
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
UT BUREAU
BOSTON, MASS*
ROBERT PRAHCIS KENNEDY
9/21/51 I 9/19, 20,21/51
BS 77-5215 ner
H. eSIOBEDER
T
DEPARTMENTAL APPLICANT
Attorney, Criminal Diviaii
BVNonw or r acts:
Records, Bureau of Vital Statistics, State ' ‘
House, Boston, Mass., and City Ball, Boston,
Mass., contained no reference to ROBERT
FRANCIS KENNEDY 1 s having been born In Boston
or Massachusetts from 1920 to 1930. Appli-
cant attended Bates College, Lewiston, Maine,
November, 1944 to June, 1945 under Navy V-12
Program. Transferred in good standing to
Harvard University. Records Bates College .
show Applicant born Boston, Maes., November 20,
1925. Applicant entered Harvard College in
spring of 1944 under Navy V-12 Program until
November, 1944 *nd returned in summer term
of 1945 until January 31, 1946. Applicant .
returned in the fall of 1946 and was awarded
an A.B. Degree March 1, 1948 in the field
of Government. Applicant's academic record
was favorable and Applicant recommended by
University officials. References recommended
Applicant highly. Neighborhood investigation
indicates Applicant a person of good character,
well thought of, good reputation and a loyal
American. Records, Supreme Judicial Court
of Massachusetts, indicate Applicant presently
under consideration for admission to the
Massachusetts Bar. Credit record on Applicant
and family favorable. No criminal record.
- RUC -
eau teletype to New York and Boston dated 9/14/51*
mopfrrr or fsi-this confidential trroif and if* content* aie loaned to you nt the roi and me not to k distninuteo outside of
MENCY TO WHICH LOANED. * * •.■..mhw mmm „
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a
I
I
BS 77-5215
— DETAIL 8
Investigation at Harvard University was conducted 'by SA ...
RICHARD V. ALLEH; at Lewiston, Maine, by SA JOHN T. PASS;
neighborhood investigation was conducted by SA WILLIAM A.
TANNER; interview of references, by SA DAVID A. LYNCH. ,
BIRTH
The records of the Bureau of Vital Statistics, State House,
Boston, Massachusetts, contained no reference to ROBERT
FRANCIS KENNEDY'S having been^born in Massachusetts from t -
the years 1920 to 1930.. j\ ' *. .*»
* '• ' .* ~ • -r ’ • •
The records at Boston City Hall for the years 1920 to 1930
eontained no reference to ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY'S having
been born at Boston.
EDUCATION
College in the spring of 191*4* member of the Navy V-12 ‘ y*
Program. The Applicant attended until November, 1944* At
which time he was transferred to Bates College in Lewiston,
Maine. The Applicant returned to Harvard College in Decem-
ber of 1945 And remained until January 31* 1946, at which
time he was transferred to sea duty. The Applicant returned
as a civilian in the fall of 1946 And was awarded an A.B.
Degree March 1, 1946 in the field of Government. .
! Harvard College, reviewed
Ehe Applicant's personal folder and stated the Applicant's'^ y ",
record was clear. He stated further the records indicated *y
the Applicant was the son of the Honorable JOSEPH PATRICK .. ' >
KENNEDY, former United States Ambassador to the Court of
St. James. v;- •- ;, y
-2-
2 2 .
\
carvara university, stated be knew the *
ppucant as a resident of Vlnthrop Bouae. Be stated the " ‘
rec°rd^^|lnthrop Bouse are clear relating to the Awoll-
*5°* * ■■■■V ■ d the Applicant .associated with persons
of normal American background. Be sUted he had complete • 5
confidence in the Applicant's loyalty to the United States
and said he knew nothing In derogation of the Applicant's
character.
divers
e, stated the r
November, 1944
ed the Appllcan
ding. She stat<
ant was born Bo
EL
cusi,on, nassacnusetts, stated he has known
e Applicant since birth and recoonended him hi ghly for a
position with the Government* He stated the Applicant and
hla family have a good reputation and that their loyalty to
the United States Is beyond question. Be said the Appli-
cant Is Intelligent and trustworthy. .;
ri«a eucxiuse tes, seated ne nas known the Applicant
during the entire period “ “ * “
iKIi
commended the Applicant without
BS 77-5215
reservation for a position of trust with the Go Vermont of
the United States and that he based this reoonnendaticm on
all phases of the Applicant's character. Be stated he had
complete confidence In the Applicant's loyalty to the fora
of government of the United States and that the Applicant
at all times had exhibited himself to be a person of good •
moral character and reputation.
Boston, Massachusetts,
stated he has known the Applicant since birth and that. In
observing the Applicant's development, he could say conclusively
that the Applicant is a person of sound moral character and
unquestionable loyalty to the United States and of good repu-
tation and associates. He recotanended the Applicant for a
position of trust with the Government of the United States. *
NEIGHBORHOOD
122 Bowdoln
oston, Massachusetts, stated the Applicant has
resided at this address for approximately one and one-half
years. He stated the Applicant appears to be a person of
good character and reputation and that he knew of no state-
ment or activity engaged In by the Applicant which would
indicate that he was other than loyal to the United States.
122 Bowdoln
os ton, Massachusetts, who have known the Applicant
for approximately one and one-half years, stated the Appli-
cant appears to be of good character, loyalty and reputation.
CREDIT AND CRIMINAL
ssachusetts, contained records which indicated
the Applicant and his family had a favorable credit rating.
The records o
as checked by
tion relating
ppiic
Lewiston, Maine, -
contained no Informa
70 /
✓
i
BS 77-5215
The records of
central repositor^rH^^^^SWWW®^ Augusta, Maine, a
State of Maine, contained ao iSi?!-. *co©rds In the
Applicant. * contained no Infomatlon pertaining to the
So record for the Applicant
Va 8 CAnf fi4na<4 4 m A.1
*or y for
ooscon, a central
records in Massachusetts.
'^C&Zb MlSCELLAWRnng
Siq>ratte Judicial
Massachusetts, stated thf^SiJ ™^ y rt C ? Ur i House ' Boston,
adnlsslon to the Bar of Massachusetts? d ° f th ® Appllcan V«
Sjal^to^h^B^ ln°j£lT li l95i 2,l 6 ? h a petltlon for ad-
cants are presently beim/eaiifi the successful appll-
the Board Sf B^ i&J£nS?s? f ° r ° r * 1 ««inatlon by
f -
Referred upon completios to the office of origis -
*
- 5 -
bs 77-5215
• . *-
~3 - *•= SC
. i;
ADMINISTRATIVE PAGE ' —
Birth ehaeks at the State House and City Hall, Boston,
were made by SE NORMAN R. JOHNSON; oredit and criminal
checks at Boston were made by SE FRANCIS L. MANNIX.
^a.t. 8crumnr«r wtncc
mmmkvmwsm
Z&tzjtS
jA^type
*0M NEW YORK
SECTOR
DEFERRED
«-28 PM
I f Mr. Gl*Ha_
Mr. Nkk«W.
Mr. P— ,_
Mr. Dvko __
Mr. AW..,,
*<r. LMffclfe^
Mr. M«hr
Mr. IW..
BERT FRANCIS KENNEDY, DAPLI. REBUTEL SEPT. TWENTY TWO 011^ ^1111
CASE RUC-D BY TEL TO »F0 SEPT. TWENTYONE LAST. HAVAL RECORD MOT
10CATED, CARDEN CITY, RUC.
SCHEIDT
*•; \ ' \ \_r : -*.<
■ - ;*"v' *
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4
Office
to
^ -
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Memorandum • united states government
SAC, *¥• (Tour file ) * datb:
Director, FBI
✓<
( ) lb® deadline in this case has passed and the Bureau has not
received a report, Tou are Instructed to lamediately subcult
a report. In the event a report has been submitted, you
should sake a notation o f the date on which it was submitted
on this letter and return it to the Bureau.
jQOCiRepOTX submitted £l
***** (y fly f7J/ -v*. ***7 se***cc
Report will be submitted 1
Rea^dn for delay 1 ^ ']
— J»7// so As/
( ) Advise Bureau re status of this ease.
( ) Advise Bureau when report may be expected.
(CK^Suri
Surep Immediately.
I sc*i?cHE3-^ : ^- m52tID
SERIALIZED — ■— - nL “-;
SEP 2 6 1951
r n . WAS.K F. q
^ A
(Place your reply on this form and return to the Bureau. Bote on the top serf
In the case file the receipt and acknowledgment of this cosnunicatlon.)
*
%. 8
§§§
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* * *-
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JTHOM
^RECTOR, • • .' •-.-. r.‘ DEFERRED VV^^v v- V-"
V • *-«.../ . •;*«>' Vi'- ;vv.i;> .; '* .- - *- *vj v? V' --' *3- ^■»,V'" 1 I - *-*****”
:■■ *:■; \ - : \ . ^ w - - :.; , : *v ! r n K . s>;v: •:'*'■•. : ?r^> 5 ^s: A ^
“ BERT rRAN ? I S KENNEDY, DAPLI# ■ REBirTEL ' STPT#W TWO ^f ^ TF
CASE WC-J 8Y TEL TO VFO SEPiy TWBJTYONE LAST* ' NAVAL RECORD MOT
LOCATED, CARDEN CITY, RUC, ' • *-V{%V . !f X ; \A
, SCHEIDT
* >' •“►'•• . * 3 * .s'i
Hr. A. Berltt Tenech
Ikqnttr Attorney Omni
Vlnctor, FBI
CC- Y "> 3 kisen
iLj t*llan
Mr. Pitaer
Septoaber 27# 1251
BOBERT F5JWCIS KEJTfHJI
DSPIRTMEHTAL APPUCAFT
ATTO8FET
UL DIVKIOF
Him
With reference to pour aeaorandum dated Septaabar 12, 1951# requeeting
that an Lmrartlgatlon be conducted concerning lobert Franc la Kennedy, there are
attached ooplea of the follaadog reporte.
Beport of Special Agent lord. a H, Beigbeder, dated September tl> 1951#
at Boeton, Massachusetts.
Beport of Bpeciel Agent George f. Pixtrn, Jr., dated Septaabar 21, 1951#
at Washington, D. C.
Beport of Special Agent Jerry T* Bette, Jr., dated Septoaber 18 , 1951#
at Borfolk, Virginia.
Beport of Ppedal Agent Jesse C. Ball, Jr., dated September 20, 1951# at
Blchnond, Virginia.
It has been determined that the Mary ferries record of Kennedy la presently
an route from Few York to Washington, D. C. Aa aoon as it can be located and
reviewed you will be furnished a copy of the report reflecting this Information,
^ <’:»W ,u
: 77-513^7 tj
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; Office Memorandum
• UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
TO • MHSCTQR, FBI (77-51387)
t
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nou
SAC, WPO (77-37011)
ROBStT FRANCIS KBKKEDT
Departmental Applicant
Attorney, Criminal Division
OAIXi October 31, 1951
Re New York teletype dated September 22, 1951*
fiiclosed herewith ie the report of SA GEORGE P. BAXTRUM, JR.,
dated October 31, 1951, captioned as above.
Upon receipt of ret el setting forth information tha^th^aDpli-
cant's Navy record was charged out from NRMC, Garden City to a
Naval intelligence officer on liaison with the Bureau of Navt^rersonnel
at Washington, D. C. , a search was made for the record with negative re-
sults.
47C-
A stop was placed in the files requesting FBI notification when
the record was available. As set forth in enclosed report, applicant 1 s
record has not yet been located at the Naval Personnel Office here.
This stop will be continued at Naval Personnel and should the
missing record be located, WFQ will review the record and submit a
supplemental report . CoC.
gpb/fmd
Enclosure
> - ■ •V'
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FEDERAL BUREAU
►at BUREAU
j^ SHIyCTOit » D - C, 10/31/SI 1 9/27; 10/27/51
„ -ROBERT rRANCl/^BOJEDT
(&0RG1 P. RAXTRUM, JR. GPB/FXD
DEPaSTKQ/TAL applicant
ATTOHNEX
CRIMINAL DIVISION
r.:~- «> ; .v., ft.
•V NOWI or FACTS:
t- ;trv*» 9.
Navy record not Iocs tod.
- buc -
AQB criJA
BNQ. BEC'Sl
J?2£gj>
-<5ffc.
REFERENCE:
DETAILS:
New lork teletype deted September 22, 1951.
Dhf ^ S tl WASHINGTON. D. (L
i&ilieted Service Record Section,
Deportment of the «avy, has advised Special Employee GERALD F. RT.TSfi that
the service record of the applicant has not been located end la presumed
to be lost, misfiled, or mistakenly "charged out."
Records of the Office of Naval Intelligence Detail, Navy
Annex, Washington, D. C., «»re checked by Special Baployee GERALD F. BLISS
and found to contain a request that the applicant's service record be for-
tarded from Garden City, New fork, but it has not been received. The only
data in these files concerning the applicant, serial number 748-77-27,
concerns his re— enlistment March 7# 1947 at Boston, Massachusetts, as a
Seaman second class. United States Naval Reserve, V-6, for four years
inactive duty. He was honorably discharged July 16, 1947 for the convenience
of the government* There is no derogatory information concerning the appli-
cant in theae^ files .
UPON COMPLETION TO THE OFFICE OF ORIGIN
^ I '«£&•
*■} i' \i£ ^3 90 MOT«rntTVMYHBH»ACB> l
. j
,27rJi 7JV7- !U.
/3> Bureau (77-51387)
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1 - Washington Field (77-37011)
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. fioftm or rot -mis confidential ttfotT and nrs content! me loaned to you by nit rm and ait bot to if oisrtisuuo outside of
AOCNCY TO WHICH LOANED* . . ^ ^
L ~ ij
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x Office Memorandum
Oil wo. • *•• •rtcho'JS^
• i f. Ef^fftries*
£
• UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
-•’* - J-. 1.1m
DATKt Januarv 28, Vfcffj^T
1954 ’ I'arin
/
ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY
ITNOPSlSt
On morning of January 28, 1954, Robert Trane to Kennedy
called Director 1 # Office and otated he would like to talk over
personal matters with Director . Arrangements made for Kennedy
to see Director at 4:00 p.m, same day . / Kennedy is son of
Joseph p . Kennedy, former ambassador to England, and brother of
Senator John F . Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts . On
September 14, 1951, we opened Departmental applicant case on
i Kennedy who was applying for position of attorney in Criminal
iDiuieion. Investigation failed to reflect any de rogatory informa-
I tion and persons contacted recommended highly, Kennedy born
Boston, Massachusetts, November 20, 1925. Attended Harvard
University, Bates College, and received law degree from Virginia
IAW School in 1951, Served in U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946.
|J (rs. George Shake 1 tnvited Director to attend a carriage of her
Jdaughter, Ethel, to Kennedy in Greenwich, Connecticut , on June 17,
*1950. invitation declined, m l/ay, 1953, Robert T • Kennedy as
.an assistant counsel of permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
I of the Committee on Government Ope rations gave considerable
1 testimony regarding ships carrying cargo to Communist China •
Senator McCarthy gave credit to Kennedy and other members on his
staff for agreement worked out with Greek shipowners to not carry
goods to Communist China, m October, 1953, we received Security
of Government Employees form for Kennedy when he was applying for
positton of Assistant to Commissioner on the Commission on
Organisation of the Executive Branch of the Government • re con-
ducted no inueetipation.
RE CONN END A TION:
None, for infonation .
/
cc - Mr. Nichols\
ac - Mr. Holloman
yr
RECORDED-97
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JTe»orandu» to Jfr. Nichols January 26, 1954
DETAILS :
On the morning of January 26, 1954, Robert Franc to
Kennedy called the Director 's Office and ad vtsed that he would
like to talk over come personal matters with the Director .
Arrangements were made for Kennedy to come in to see the
Director at 4:00 p.m. the same day .
Robert Francis Kennedy is the son of Joseph P. Kennedy,
former ambassador to England and the brother of Senator John
F • Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts.
On September 14, 1951, we opened a Departmental
applicant case on Robert Franc tm^Kennedy, who was applying
for a position of attorney in the Criminal Division . Back -
ground information furnished indicated he was. born in Boston ,
Massachusetts , on November 20, 1925, and attended Harvard
Gniversity, Bates College, and received his law degree from
the Virginia Law School in 1951 . Be served in the United
States Navy from 1944 to 1946. Investigation in this case
failed to reflect any derogatory information concerning
Kennedy, and all persons interviewed recommended him very
highly. (77-5136?)
An invitation postmarked May 19, 1950, from Mr. and
Mrs. George Skakel and addressed to Mr. and Mrs. J. Edgar Hoover
requested the honor of the Director f e presence at the marrtage
of their daughter Ethel to Robert Francis Kennedy on Saturday ,
June 17, in Greenwich, Connecticut . This tnvttation was declined.
(62-12186-3444)
A transcript of the hearings before the Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government
Operations in the United States held on May 4 and 20, 1953,
reflects that Robert F. Kennedy, assistant counsel for that
committee, gave considerable testimony regarding Ships carry-
ing cargo to Communist China in 1952 . (62-98810-109)
A Washington City News Service release dated March
i 30, 1953, goes into considerable detail about the agreement
* that Senator McCarthy had worked out with Greek shipowners
not to transport goods to Communist China . The press release
states that McCarthy gave full credit and high praise for his
agreement to subcommittee general counsel, Francis D. Flanagan
- 2 -
*
t
3
•Memorandum to 1 (r. fichola
January 26, 1954
(former Agent), and assistant counsels, Robert F.^Kennedy and
william A, Lee ce (former Agent)* (62-98610 sub A) *
On October 14, 1953 , we received o Security of
Government Employees form for Robert Francis Kennedy • This
form reflected that he was an applicant for the position of
assistant to Commissioner Kennedy on the Commission on
Organisation of the Executive Branch of the Government • No
investigation was conducted, but five reports were forwarded
to the Commission taken from the Departmental applicant
investigation we had conducted in 1951 • (140-1-2062)
• fr< ct or director
nozni oooeav or irvestisatior
•OITEO STATES department or jwice —*L
Nr. alct*1i
oate March 8. , , _ _ * r * ••i*©nt
— J — ■ **— S*T iw tlOJUfmr. Slav In.
■r. Mr* cl.
I Xtnne&y said he\oouid like
«?»« *»•" «»« «. 1/rVTo „r it
e Director conue^Xce eomeUme tht, W ek.
■ Office Memorandum • united states government
T«Um
to
* Mr. Ntc
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* M.-Tytynfa
0
ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY
D ant March 10, 1954***
Qni —
CTmii
IWfW-
Tmtftv .
Vtanw
T*W. R4
Mm
KaiGkn
r/ie Director's Office has requested background
information concerning captioned individual in view of his
proposed pending visit with the Director. You will recall
that a background memorandum was prepared under date of
January 26, 1954 , setting forth a brief summary of informa-
tion in Bureau files concerning Kennedy. Indices reflect no
references to Kennedy subsequent to December , 1953 .
It is to be noted that the Director saw Kennedy ,
apparently on a personal matter, on January 26 and also on
February 15, 1954.
The memorandum dated January 28, 1954 ,
R EC 0F1SFN DA TION :
For information.
is attached.
7^
cc — Mr. Eolloman
Attachment
GUP: rm
COMF1
%
K t ) ©e - *r 9 Belmont
William ?* Me germ
Deputy Attorney General
Deputy Attorney General POMD
7 7 - 0"/ 3 71 - JJ/ IL I
Director , fBI 1
EX -125 ' ~‘ l ' £d ~ 2 s^
'jf^j
August 90, IBS
’ I »
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MO BEST TBAWCIS KEMMKBT
IMTERMJLL 8 SC BRITT » M
Tek. *i
HalltM
r-i
. WOfMtioii received /r<m tfce Senate Disbursing
Off *P 4 4 !>• C., dlecloeee only one *o6ert /*•
xennedy ot the United States Senate • T7iese records reflect
J?/r} j31 ] l 1 & V 5fl- 8B'- * he Committee on Government Operations *
f 7 ” xosnlnyton city directory discloses that
** an a *****znt to Senator Joseph T .
********** and resides wltfydTip 'Wife, Ethel ,
ct 2604 0 Street,,*. W., Washington DSC./ ' '
■“> Sj j ij’u v . ■ '"Ujf:. / ' *SL
?*"" <■•“«»» a.Us*“ kflfU " - %t UT
vi/e, Ethel ,
CONE,
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Ik
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L -)
cowrirnffTiAL
Jli>
ry, 1959, fit 4he records
of ra«hi»?to*, dL Q, reflects
tha^^tooer^r^nenneay^3550M8treet, 9* V*, mi/e Ethel,
mao employed at the time with the Juettee Department • Be
mat described as the aen of Joseph J>. Kennedy, former
Ambassador to Snglamd^
Robert T» Kennedy is the brttfcer of John Titsgerald
Kennedy, United Stale 3 J&uttor from Massachusetts •
These data are being furnished for your
information mith the request that they not be further
disseminated • Mo additional investigation is contemplated
in the captioned matter by this Bureau •
HI
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FOIPA DELETED PARE INFORMATION SHEET
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Deleted under exemption(s) ^ll
material available fof release to you.
with no segregate
O Information pertained only to a third
party with no reference to you or the subject of your request.
□ Information pertained only to a third party. Your
name is listed in the title only.
□ Documents) originating with the following government
agency(ies)
was/were forwarded to them for direct response to
you.
Page(s) referred for consultation to the following government agency(ies);
be advised of availability upon return of the material to the FBI
as the information originated with them. You will
Page(s) withheld for the following reason(s):
CZI For your information:
XXXXXX
xxxxxx
xxxxxx
L/Ls
y^wiAAAAAAAA AJYAAA a
$ DELETED PAGE(S)
X NO DUPLICATION FEE
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FBt/DOJ
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O0MrMtfTuI tcUt ™ jJJ*
f\ Mr* Boardman
Mr. Etohole
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1 SS«
m*. ttJIla* F. Rogers * _ . ffembar *9 # 1954
faputy 4ttoraap Genara!^*?* 1 * 0 * * #,l# ^
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MOBERT TRAVCIS EE REEDY
IWTSRWAL SECURITY - J»
CCiOTTIAL '
//
Jn/or»atf on racaivad from ih e Pnfted States Senate ^
Dtebureing Office reflects that Robert T. Xannady la employed
I* *aa CMa/ Counaai to JVfnorfty o/ tfca Farsanant ffuboomlttaa
| lion Jnuaatlyotlona o/ the Senate* ^
4f
Egg £Vkz OS-32591
M c 8fcn
if 1- Xesletant ittornay General
*** .. t ; r« ro»pHn»
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lift*
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RECORDED 1J
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flfv pv/y* * °* CJ *** tfl&Btto n i^efTot', ^s/j 7? %
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Hollow.
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I 1 “ ^ I 1954 j I
J- COMAI -Pp, /
**£-V
CONjJdERTIA^
^ **iO/r x Ai
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
1© * L, F. Boordman
mnjmcT: ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY
INTERNAL 8ECURITT - R
To answer thffpirector *s
concerning Jtobert F» T’ennedz/ who
of the Permanent Subcommittee on
f
vent November 89,
2964
c
/
Tele. Im
Mlm.
Gwdj
inquiry "just what is this all aboutp n 1
is employed as Chief Counsel to ilinority
Investigations of the Senate . iJ V
M
i
3
V
i
X
V
4-750 (2-7-79)
O
xxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxx
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
FOIPA OELETEO PAGE INFORMATION SHEET
z
_ - Page(s) withheld entirely at this location in the file. One or more of the following statements, where
indicated, explain this deletion.
$
Deleted under exemption(s)
with do segregable
material available for release to you.
CH Information pertained only to a third party with no reference to you or the subject of your request.
O Information pertained only to a third party. Your name is listed in the title only.
□ Documents) originating with the following government agency(ies) _ __
t was/were forwarded to them for direct response to you.
Page(s) referred for consultation to the following government agency(ies);
as the information originated with them. You will
be advised of availability upon return of the material to the FBI.
Pagels) withheld for the following reason(s):
D For your information:
The following number is to, be used for reference regarding these pages:
tp 4(327' /9/L
XXXXXX
xxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
X DELETED PAGE(S) X
yNO DUPLICATION FEE x
X FOR THIS PAGE X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
_ o •’ o -
Office -Memorandum • united states government/^,
r An / \
to - t L. 7. Boardman
noM • A. B.
mo nt
acBjKT: ROBERT FkANCIS KENNEDY
INTERNAL SECURITY - B
„ 4 Ji),
datXi December
1954 jgK
You will reoall subject is brother of John Titagerald
Kennedy , U . 5, Senator from Massachusetts. Be is the son of
Joseph P. Kennedy, former Ambassador to England and is employed
as Chief Counsel to Minority of the Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations
of the Senate .
1 7“ 3V 3 1 7- W 7 n
These data vere furnished Deputy Attorney General Roger
and Assistant Attorney General Tompkins by memoranda^ dated . \
August 30, and November 29, 1954. ij . g.. /. — — f7 V
RECOMMEND A TION:
REtOHDtD^r
is DEC
r . . - •
J I see no need to send to the Dept. JLJ
* 105-31591 -r^ ~ -
Attachment (P
cc - Mr. Boardman
cg “ Mr. Belmont cc ■^^ 4 ^
1 FVff ?adh . / / I cr<k 7 i»
Mr. Hitt
* J>_
xxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
X DELETED PAGE(S) X
yNO DUPLICATION FEE x
X FOR THIS PAGE X
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
4-750 ( 4 - 7 - 78 )
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
FOIPA DELETED PAGE INFORMATION SHEET
tl.
Page(s) withheld entirely at this location in the file. One or more of the following statements, where
% indicated, explain this deletion.
$
Deleted under exemptions )
material available for release to you.
M
with no segregable
O Information pertained only to a third party with no reference to you or the subject of your request.
□ Information pertained only to a third party. Your name is listed in the title only.
□ Documents) originating with the following government agency(ies)
, was/were forwarded to them for direct response to you.
Page(s) referred for consultation to the following government agency! ies);
as the information originated with them. You will
be advised of availability upon return of the material to the FBI.
Page(s) withheld for the following reason(s):
CD For your infoimation :
The following number is to be used for reference regarding these pages: y
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
X DELETED PAGE(S) X
$N0 DUPLICATION FEE x
X FOR THIS PAGE X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
£/
4-750 ( 3 - 7 - 79 )
■ i
.s
*
\
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
FOIPA DELETED PAGE INFORMATION SHEET
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
Pagete) withheld entirely at this location in the file,
indicated, explain this deletion.
One or more of the following atatements, where
Deleted under exemption(s)
material available for release to
/7C, ^?A
you.
with no segregable
□ Infonnation pertained only to a third party with no reference to you or the subject of your request.
□ Infonnation pertained only to a third party. Your name is listed in the title only.
CH Documents) originating with the following government agency(ies)
— was/were forwarded to them for direct response to you.
Page(s) referred for consultation to the following government agency(ies); __
“ ~ ” as the infonnation originated with them.
be advised of availability upon return of the material to the FBI.
You will
i Page(s) withheld for the following reason(s):
□ For your information:
The following number is to be used for reference regarding these pages:
- 77 ^ Av/ Cl m/U . tr ^ Lz hjbL
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA
5 DELETED PAGE(S) X
X NO DUPLICATION FEE v
X FOR THIS PAGE X
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
FBI/DOJ
Mmq ». MSS
rcbsrt miciAffiiaw
Boro* lov«*«r 20# 192$
Boston* MmmaattU
Id appUeent-type lovwtl|ittM ms to
in *eptend>er and October# 1951, waowalag Robert Kennedy.
FBI report* of this Investigation mere furnished your
ggeney eo March 10. 1953* •» eubeequaet Investigation
pertinent to your inquiry ooneemlng the captioned Indi-
vidual has been conducted by tbls Bureau*
The foregoing information la tjasaw, rou
as a result of your request for an F3I file shock and
le not to be eoastrued u e elearanoe er a nooclearenee
of the individual involved* Tote Information le furnished
for your use end should not be disseminated outside of
your ageaey*
Orig* to OSD
Eeq* jrec * d * 2-4-55
J. J* AayjJmtvea^^
y 1-A. H* Belmont
l-b* B* Bi chols
P**' (fi)
/
Cover nemo L* V Conroy to Mr* A* Rosen
-
■ROBERT FRANC IS •KENHSD
SAME CHECK REQUEST”
2-9-55
JJS:i»rvaa
Teles*
Beard ami
Nickels
Hsf be —
Nobr
Persoee —
Rosen _
A ma s BBms*
T ^r_^ ti| p&7
^-#8 MAR 3- 1955.
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BATE I
3 Feb 195£_ |
jjt - "AIDES MAH£ f //
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{MARITAL STATUS
Harried
I DATE Of BIRTH
20 Vovember 1925
u, c^l. <n? in xestlMtlQT, .nh.^ .U *. a
*■ *»«'«TPWi, SSCIlilfS « clubs ti>« nn. ,MM |T,V„. '
A LI AS (ESI OR RICKRAHES
r LACE Or BIRTH fci*r a»rf •
foatott, Nasaachuaette
08& b7
I MARCH Of
SERVICE
D5Navy/g
|sfousfs fuu rare
SKiXEL, Ethel
SERVICE RUHBER
2/C)
MILITARY service
FROM
(Pmtmm)
TO
Jaliih nu \ staation
jfaren 19 Wi | June l t 19 M
©ATI
fAOM
Jan/li3
TO
in /53
OATES
FROM
10 / 10/51 6 / 1/52
ALIASIESI OR RICRRARES
BESIDE ROES OUR IMG PAST 15 TEARS
JoaTcofoirtr:
SOCIAL SECURITY
HUMBER
748 - 77-27
FLACE OF BIRTH (Citj «.rf 1(at ^
street aro humber
12 2 Bowdoln St.
TO
EMPLOYMENT DURING P AST 15 TEARS
HAKE Of EMPLOYE*
*TATC OR COUNTRY
M&as.
0# S. Government, Department of
(Justice
r PATES
FROM
3/l/U
9/1$ A8
TO
10 AAL
6 AS /51
COUCATIOR
FLACE OF EHf LOTMEMT
HARE Of SCHOOL
Harvard College
University of Virginia
[REMARKS Of CHECK I MG A6ERCT
LOCATIOM OF SCHOOL
Cambridge, Maas.
Charlotte8ville, Virginia
ELPim-e: /<? / c & S&
TAi» is « f«qiR,t for a unt cSec R o»ly ia , n , .
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Up. A.
L. V. Conroy
Q **» l ‘«<»p y_wAa\ U
Enwnpi JrOft, aST
-February 9*
ROBERT FRAHCIS RPUBP I
SAKS CH'bCK REQUEST
CH’-rX
»i
k i
*•<*; -y.
Sene check request froa Office of Secretary of
Defense (OSD) on Robert Francis Kennedy received 2-4-55 •
Kennedy « es Counsel to Permanent Subcommittee on Investiga-
tions, U. 8. Senate, on ooosslon nay be granted eccees to
top secret notarial of Defense Department. OSD requested
any Investigation subsequent to 9-18-51# «
Kennedy is son of Joseph P. Kennedy, former
Ambassador to i&gland, end brother of Senator John F. Kennedy
Democrat of Kaaeaohuaetta. On 9-14-51* Bureau opened
Departmental applicant oeee on Robert Kennedy, who was
applying for position of attorasy In Criminal Division. *
Investigation refleeted no derogatory Information, and
persona contacted reooanended highly. Reports of thlsi
Investigation furnished to OSD 3-10-53# (77-51387) u
On 1-28 end 2-15-54* Robert Franc le Kennedy sew
the Director apparently on e personal matter.
The above data were furnished Deputy Att
Oenerel Rogers and Assistant Attorney General XoagJ
memoranda dated 0-30, 11-29 end 12-22-54. yK 105-315
Attachment ii | *77- 47
v s I ! lx _ mT— a. I L —
1 NOT RECORDED
H. belmont
Hoi tow ■ — _Z l-L. b, blchols
m hr)
i» t
3. 1955
m
—
h vm in (6*,
**no to Hr. a. boson from L. X. Conroj
RjvCO.^.^LATlOXSt
th. omc'of aJSStSS u*tS!lUn^SS^a^£^
Or-
Office Mcmorattdum • united states 'government
*° « Mr. J TtohoU
DATBi M y y 0 , 1955
ROM
Jr. J.
/
ROBERT TRAN CIS KENNEDY
* REQUEST TO MEET IBS DIRECTOR
PURPOSE t
To furntsh tdenttfytng data concerning Kennedy, Chief
Couneel 9 Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations , who, on
July 20, 1955, requested to pay hie respects to the Director before
leaving on a trtp to Southern Russia. The Director indicated he
would see Kennedy at 10:15 a.m., July 21, 1955 . >/ ^
biogRa I^icIl^ta^ 's o /d m A Z 5 /. v- • s b
‘^/Kennedy was born November 20, 1925, at Boston, Massachusetts,
attended Harvard College and the University of Virginia Law School .
He is the son of Joseph P . Kennedy, former Ambassador to England
and brother of Senator John T. Kennedy ( D - Mass*) J
s /
INFORMATION IN BUREAU FILES
In September, 1951, the Bureau conducted a Departmental
Kpplicant Investigation of Kennedy in connection with a position
as attorney tn the Criminal Division . Investigation was favorable
and persons contacted recommended highly,
I On January 26, and February J.5, 1954, Kennedy saw the Director,
apparently on personal matters. M
■>
In' February, 1954, Senator McCarthy requested an investigation
of Kennedy on the basis of his reappointment to the staff of the
Senate Subcommittee. No investigation was conducted since Kennedy
had already been appointed and McCarthy and Deputy Attorney General
Rogers were so advised by letter . (62-98810-310,309.) U
In March, 1954, you talked with Kennedy concerning the
testimony of Mr. and Mrs. James Branca tn the Annie Lee Moss case
and the Director noted, v The attitude of Kennedy tn this matter clearly
shows need for absolute circumspection in any conversation with him."
(121-2900-39. ) U
oc - Mr. Holloman
cc - Mr. Ntohols
GMPr i vs
,(«)
INDEXED - 64
: 601-3
■mS 2-19S5-
\L < i v i956
&
Memorandum to Mr , ftohols
July 20, 1955
In Doc ember, 1954 $ information wae reoeived from tho
State Department indicating Juetice William 0 , Douglas wae planning
to go to the Soviet Unton tn Auguit, 1955 , and to be accompanied by
Robert Kennedy , Douglae indicated that the trip would be for one
month and that they planned to go through Moscow and Leningrad, jJ
(65-30092-5264)
In January , 1955, Bureau/fiirnfeixi <$ information to the
effect that Kennedy and hie Subcommittee was conducting inquirtee
on wire tapping tn the Dietrict of Columbia and that they had
contacted off icicle of the telephone company in thie connection ,
( 62-12114-2866) ii
On May 13, 1955, Kennedy wae a gueet on the Dave Oarroway
Television Program and wae questioned concerning the Dr, John Peters
case, Sie comments concerning the FBI were favorable, (121-4200-167 ) J
Tou will recall that Harry Lev testified reoently before
Kennedy's Subcommittee in. connection with the manufacture of mtlttary
hate and caps and/ tikfPVSWtacted by Bureau Agents prior to Lev's
testimony, Kennedy was uncooperative in that he advised the Agents
he would prefer waiting until testimony of Lev had been completed,
then he would be more than glad to turn over everything concerning
thts case to the FBI, In this connection the Director noted, in part,
" Kennedy was completely uncooperative until after he had squeezed
all the publicity out of the matter he could," (46-23395-107)
RE COMMEND A TION t
/
coi®ent«l
For information ,
f
/ *
OFFICE OF 01 RECTOR
FEDERAL RUREAO OF IRVESTICATIOR
OR I TED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Mr. toiTbiT
Mr. QBBfMBB B *
Mr. Mlaont .
Nr. turbo
Date Ju*V *9. 1 19_£5 Tiae . j;Z8£M Mr. turbo _
Mr. Mohr
Mr, Robert Kennedy, Chief Counsel. Mr. parsons
Nr. Rosen _
Senate Sub- Committee on Investigations, Nra Ttaa
tele locally.
phone no. The Capitol.
remarks
Nr. Jones
Mr. Si zoo
Mr. winterroed,
Tele. RooM_^^
Mr. No11odw__
Mlss Sol fKs.
Miss Candy
When advised of the Director's absence from the
office, Mr. Kennedy asked that the following message
be given to the Director.
I Mr. Kennedy stated that he was leaving for Southern
[Russia a week from tomorrow, July 27th, and would
like very much to come by the office to see the
Director sometime before be leaves. He indicated
ithat be merely wished to pay his respects to the
'Director.
He was told that his message would be brought to the
Director’s attention immediately upon his return to
the office. . '
‘ik ““
at.
^3-
50 (slUL 291855
Mi
RECORD® -
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27 JUL 27 1355
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Office of Okcto*
FSPOtAL SUfifiAU OF MVESTIBATION
UNITCO STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
July 20, 1955
i7^
Nr. Tolson
Nr. CoftrdMn.
Nr. sleho1s_
Nr. l«1«iont _
Nr. Marbo
Nr. Nohr
Nr. rarsons _
Nr. Rosen
Nr. Tana
Nr. Jonas
Nr. $i2oo
Nr. Ml nterrowd
Ttl*. Room
Nr. Molloun
Nlss Mol aes
Miss Candy
called and referred to
the call that Mr. BotrtCenntdy
made yesterday, requesting to
see you before Kennedy goes to
Russia.
r £1»
stated that he knew
| Kennedy was very anxious to see you before he
left and would appreciate it if your schedule would
so permit.
bit/
I told that I was sure that you would
want to see Mr, Kennedy if your schedule per-
mitted, but I did know that your schedule was
terribly tight right at this time.
FCHreff (3)
1 — Tele Room
1--FCH
r - *
79-s-zsr9-A.su
* I
DO-e
/
Office of Dbkctos
FEDERAL BUREAU OF WVESTI8ATION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
October 27, 1955
« V
Robe rt Kennedy, called and in your
absence 1 talked to him. He
wanted to make an appointment
to see you sometime after the
middle of next week. He wants
to talk to you concerning his
recent visit to Russia.
>Nr. Tolson
Nr. toardaan
" Mr. s i chols — ,n
Mr. telaont
Nr. Nsrbo
Mr. Mohr.
Mr. Parsons
Mr. Rosen —
Nr. Tom
Mr. Jones
Mr. Slroo.
Mr. Ml nterrowjJ _
Tele. Boosij
Mi%
"mTss Hofaes
Miss Candy .
Mr. Kennedy stated he was leaving town and
would not return until approximately Wednesday
of next week but he would be available any time
after that that would be convenient to you.
I told Mr. Kennedy that you were presently
out but that his request would be brought to your
attention.
Kcoroe d .
, 7-0
FCHrhmb (4)
1- -Telephone Room
1 - -Mr . Nichols
1--FCH
/
- 4 t
f C
. *' V/ J
Office Memorandum • united states government
^ IXOM
SUBJBCT:
PURPOSE :
Ur. Nich
uS???j2i7/
6 )
ROBERT FRANCIS KEN I.
MEETING KITH DIREC1
COI#NTI/iL
7?*£'*T a
bUIV^tl
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lECTQR'^C
/(*' Ojj ✓ ^
****** ITouewber I. 2955
T«l»_
Board.*.
Kebabs
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law* _
Tam
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T«ie* Km
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To furnish identifying data concerning Kennedy , chief c-dy
counsel for the Senate Investigations Subcommittee, who will see the
Director at 4:00 p.m., November 3, 1955 . 4
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA :
Kennedy was born November SO, 1925, at Boston, Massachusetts,
attended Harvard and the University of Virginia Law School . He is the
son of Joseph t. Kennedy, former ambassador to England, and brother of
Senator John F. Kennedy (D. -Massachusetts)
\ l
BUREAU INVESTIGATION OF KENNEDY :
m * n September, 1951, the Bureau conducted a Departmental applicar
investigation of Kennedy in connection with a position as attorney in
.the Criminal Division . The investigation was favorable and individuals
contacted recommended him highly.il
| KEi.TEDY 'S VISIT TO R USSIA IN 1955 1
6 * >•
In December, 1954, information was received from the State
Department indicating Kennedy and Justice William 0. Douglas were planning
- yUNJJlZ- Rif
cc - Hr. Holloman -- . \
^ps cc " Mr • Nich0l 3 » NOV 9 1955
faGMPsrm — — — ■ J Of
*•* cote
Enclosure
A
November 1 , 1955
August, 1955 , On July SI, 1955, Kennedy
that he was leaving for Southern Russia,
* The October 21, 1955, issue Of V, S , News & World Report
contains an article (attached) entitled "A Look Behind the Russian
Smiles," which is an interview with Kennedy covering his six-week tour
of Russia and Central Asia , This is a rather lengthy article which
reflects Kennedy's views of Russian life , It points out that in some
areas they were the first American visitors tn many, many years / that
the secret police watched Douglas and Kennedy, monitored their conversa-
tions and prohibited their travel to some areas • The article covers
slave labor camps, segregated schools, the general life of people in
Russia, the activities of LTD personnel , and general information concerning
living conditions in Russia, ^
MISCELLANEOUS :
Kennedy talked with the Director on January 28 and February 15,
1954, apparently on personal matters, J
In Larch, 1954, Kennedy talked with Mr, Nichols concerning the
I testimony of Mr, and Mrs, James Branca in the Annie Lee Moss casejand the
Director noted , "The attitude of Kennedy in this matter clearly shows
need for absolute circumspection in any conversation with him, u
In January, 1955, the Bureau ioas confidentially advised that
Kennedy and his subcommittee were conducting inquiries on wire tapping
in the District of Columbia and that they had contacted telephone company
officials in this regard, y
In 1955, Harry Lev testified before Kennedy's subcommittee in
connection with the manufacture of military hats and caps. Contacted by
Bureau Agents before Lev's testimony, Kennedy was uncooperative in that
he advised Agents he would prefer waiting until Lev's testimony had been
completed and then make data concerning this case available to the Bureau,
In thi3 connection the Director noted, "Kennedy ioas completely un coopera-
tive until after he had squeezed all the publicity out of the matter he
could,
RECOm-ENDA TION i
For information.
2 -
U
♦
u
*
with ROBERT F. KENNEDY-
Counsel for Senate Investigations Subcommittee
A LOOK BEHIND
THE RUSSIAN SMILES
What h life like in far Soviet comers? Ate
tnfflions really kept In slavery?
Robert F. Kennedy, chief counsel for the
i Senate Investigations Subcommittee, occom-
I ponied Supreme Court Justice William O.
t Douglas on a tour of Central Asia, and took
the photos of Russian life shown here. In many
of the areas no visiting Americans had been
[ seen since the Russian Revolution.
Doors were opened and privileges extended.
But the secret police watched Justice Douglas
and Mr. Kennedy and monitored their conver-
sations. Travel to some places was prohibited.
Yet much was learned about life In the
U.S.S.R., and also about what lies hidden be-
hind the Russians* new "friendly** approach.
While abroad, Mr. Kennedy, on leave from
the Subcommittee, paid his own expenses.
Q How long were you in Russia, Mr. Kennedy?
A Just under six weeks.
O Where did you go?
A We spent most of our time in Central Asia, which is
composed of five countries -Kazakhstan* Turkmenistan, Uzbe-
kistan, Tadzhikistan and Kirghizia.
Q You were the first Americans to be over there?
A In some parts. Other Americans have gone to some of
the cities, but in other parts they haven't allowed anyone.
Q What was your major reason for going?
A We were chiefly interested in going there because it is
the “colonial” area of the Soviet Union— the people are en-
tirely different from the natives of Central Russia— they are
of Turkish and Iranian stock with a strong Mongolian strain.
Another reason that made it interesting is that it is a highly
religious area.
At least up until 40 years ago the people were devoted
followers of Mohammed, and it was an interesting question
as to what had occurred since the Communists took over.
Another interest was the remoteness of the region— there had
been very few visitors, and yet the importance of the region
cannot be overestimated. Its a large area, about 1.5 million
aquaxe miles— it’s bigger than India before partition and larger
than all of Western Europe. It has a population of something
under 20 million, which is relatively small* but it still exceeds
the population of Canada or Australia.
The countries that border on Central Asia are so compara-
tively well known— Persia* Afghanistan, Sinkiang-we even
had a representative in Sinkiang up until 1947. All those
countries have had visitors and have had books written about
them. But in this area there seemed to be a lack of knowledge
and a lack of travelers. From 1500 up until the middle of the
nineteenth century, Samarkand had only two visitors— both
Russians— one happened to go there by chance and another
one was sent there* a Russian envoy. Otherwise there were no
foreigners. Bukhara and other sections of Central Asia have
been almost as isolated. #
O When did this region become part of the Russian em-
pire?
A Some of it starting around 1869, but part of it— for in-
stance, Bukhara— was ruled by an emir until 1924 or 1925.
He was independent prior to the Revolution— he operated on
his own authority. The Russians had conquered the land
around, but he controlled his part. He kept a harem* and
some of the women who lived in the harem are still alive.
He owned 400 concubines and a number of wives.
Q And these countries are all now republics under the
U.S.S.R.-cach one a unit?
A Yes. And they each speak separate languages.
Q Do they have any newspapers in that area?
A They had newspapers—
Q In what language?
A 1 believe in their own local language, as well as Pravda
and Izvestia.
We were in Baku in Azerbaijan before we entered Central
Asia* and a guide was pointing out the Russian accomplish-
ments. We came to a building and he said, “There is where
the 100 newspapers in Azerbaijan are published.” They are
all published in the same building.
Q How did you happen to go with Justice Douglas on this
trip?
A He came down to speak at the University of Virginia
about five years ago. I was head of an organization which
invited him, and we were talking about some of his trips, and
he said he was hoping to go to Central Asia and asked if J
would be interested. I said I would* and he had been trying
every year since then to get visas.
Q After you left Azerbaijan, where did you go?
1
k. s
i
i
,j.j In Hidden Asia: Slave-Labor Camps • • . Segregated
Schools . . . A Million Resisting Natives Disappeared
A We flew across die Caspian directly into Central Asia,
where we spent most of our time. Then we traveled to West-
ern Siberia, where we visited the cities of Barnaul, Novosi-
birsk and Omsk. We then flew to Moscow for six days, and
then to Leningrad for a couple of days, and then I came out
through Warsaw, spending two or three days there and
afterward taking the train to Berlin. Justice Douglas went
out through Helsinki.
Q Did you travel by plane?
A Yes, we traveled in Central Asia by commercial plane.
Q Are there mads?
A There are few paved roads in the cities in the western
part of Central Asia. Further east more of them are paved.
In a city like Bukhara maybe 30 per cent of the roads in the
city are paved, and of course all the roads outside the cities
are not paved— it would be impossible to drive a car through
the area.
Q Did you take your radio in there?
A We did not.
Q How did you know what was going on in the rest of the
world?
A We didn't know, we didn't have any idea. For instance,
we never knew of the release of the prisoners from China
until after we got to Moscow,
Q The newspapers didn't tell you?
A We would ask each day as the guide read them, but we
were never told those things— for what reason, 1 don't know.
There is a radio going in all of those cities, in the streets and
in all the stores- All the farms that we visited have loud-
Robert F. Kennedy, 29, i» «t present chief coun-
gel of the Senate Investigations Subcommittee.
Boston bom, Mr. Kennedy is a son of Joseph P.
Kennedy, former U. S. Ambassador to Great
Britain. He is a graduate of Harvard, where he
played varsity football in 1946-47, and of the Uni-
versity of Virginia Law School.
In 1952 he managed the campaign in which his
older brother, John F. Kennedy (Dem.), of Mas-
sachusetts, was elected to the Senate. Last year the
U. S. Junior Chamber of Commerce voted Robert
Kennedy one of the country’s 10 outstanding
young men. Also in 1954 he saved as counsel for
the Democratic members of the Senate Subcom-
mittee during the McCarthy -Stevens hearings.
speakers. They even have loud-speakers for the people
working in the fields; they have loud-speakers in the machine-
tractor stations; they have loud-speakers for the factory work-
er. They go all day long.
O Is it music?
A It's music; then they have the news and talks.
( Continued on next page)
-.USMWR
ROBERT F. KENNEDY IS INTERVIEWED IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM OF U. S. NEWS ft WORLD REPORT
L S
Internet
O Too cant get «wi 7 iron ft?
A No, it fust drive* you oat of your nrfn^
O Not o meant of aBcaceP
A No.
O What about in people’* homes?
A I suppose they can turn ft off there, but, if you go into
•Jtore, a department *tore, they wil] have a loud-dealer
O-Do people hsten to it?
A I couldn’t tell that
© 'Who furnished your guide?
A Intourist [travel bureau], the Government,
fawn buSinWS ’ where ** *** bf «dca*t* come
th^ iS 0 ™ Uokow ,- ** come from
TJ* y J“ V * * ^ station fa Tash-
hMdk^t T* * ctiv ! 1 to bro * dc * sts to the
lb£rJSf tben ’ *? *““*■ they have a station in
S "■? “■* V h C “«> A*W
A 1 taow of tome plants, for Instance, in Stalinabad Be-
fore Wong this trip 1 had read of this plant in Stalinabad, and
* *fked the guide what industry^
had, and he aud just textiles. He said that that was die sole
mernis of support It ultimately developed when we talked
fy that they have a number of mines
■round Stalinabad, and, in addition, be told us they also have
FRUNZE: Fpcfory workers in Soviet Central Asia
MOSCOW: Russian housewife
goes about her shopping chores
U. S. NEWS 4 WOULD KrQIT, Or* SI 1©««*
'■ar
i
. -i
4
*
a Keel plant. Our load guide, on this occasion as weB as
others, gave us a good deal of mkmfonnatiocL
Q Are they developing any new lands or making any efort
to Wag pe opl e down into that area?
A A lot of Russians have dome in in the last 10 or 15
yaus. *-
Q ^Ut about Orientals— Chinese, Indians— did you see
any?
A N* but of course the people are Oriental-looking. They
are a mixture of the Turk race and the people who came in
with Genghis Khan. They have the slanted eyes, the high
cheek bones, the goatee, the little mustaches -they are com-
pletely different They are as different from the Russiar people
as the Malayan people are from the English, the Algerian
from the French. There fa danfatrfy no connection what-
soever, and, as I say, that fa what^nade the area particularly
Interesting.
Q Is It a colony, In oAact?
A Yes, ft fa. It fa the Russian colonial empire as Morocco
and Algeria are the French colonial empire.
Q Is there any spirit of nationalism?
A There must be, although its difficult to tell. The native
people have suffered a good deal under die Russians. Prior
to going there, we knew this to be a fact from the statistics
published by the Russians themselves. In Kazakhstan, for
Instance, during the collectivization, the Russians took a cen-
sus in 1926 and published the number of Kazakhs in Kazakh-
(Continued on next page)
<4
■tan, which «m a Utile bit under 4 mObon. In 1939 they pob-
fched another census of tbe number of nationalities in the
whole of the Soviet Union, end included therein was the
■timber of Kazakhs fa die whole of die Soviet Union and that
was a little to above 3 million. The Kazakhs during this 13-
ytaj period had been decimated about 1 million.
O By deaths?
A That's die question. All through the rest of the Soviet
Utom die population increased 15 per cent, which means
thnt jhe Kazakhs ordinarily would have been up to 4.5
aaBion, if they followed the percentage of tbe rest. Instead
Aeyfrere reduced to 3 million or * little bit over.
O Did they resist the Russians?
A That was the charge, at least. There were some Ameri-
cans in that area at the time who said that the slaughter was
terrible. The Kazakhs are nomads, they are fiercely inde-
pendent people. There was an engineer named Scott in there
and also a man named Lfttlepage, who were in die area
during this period—
Q When did you meet them?
A I didn’t; I have read some of their writings. During that
time the population was decimated, and we tried to get an
explanation of it from university professors and judges as to
what had happened to all these people, whether they had
fled the country or had been killed. The people to whom we
talked, of course, claimed there had been no opposition to
collectivization during this period of time.
These were Soviet statistics— they weren't something made
up by people in the United States— so we asked how they
explained what had happened to the Kazakhs. They just
couldn’t explain it. They were completely at a loss. The chief
judge at Alma-Ata said that some of them were misled and
fled over the border to China and now were coming back.
But, once they admit even that, they admit there was opposi-
tion to the Russian program.
]n addition, there were stories that these people slaughtered
large amounts of their cattle rather than turn them over to the
state. In Soviet Central Asia from 1928 to 1937, the number
of sheep and goats was reduced to almost one third— 18
million to less than 6 million.
1
During the same period of time horses and cattle declined
from a little over 5 million to 2.5 million. The region’s total
livestock herd in 1934 was only about 45 per cent of what
it had been in 1928. This gives you an indication of what
was taking place in the area.
Q These animals were slaughtered by the Kazakhs them-
selves?
A Yes, and by their neighbors in the other four republics
of Central Asia.
O Are there any Europeans in there?
A Russians, of course, but very few others. We asked in
various places, but there hasn’t been more than a handful of
visitors into any of these areas in Central Asia. We saw a lot
of Chinese up in Siberia when we went through there— plane-
loads coming through.
Q How far over in Siberia did you get?
A It was an interesting story why we went to Siberia. We
wanted to go there for a short visit anyway, but we had
wanted to go up into the "new lands” in Kazakhstan to see
the ^virgin lands” program. We wanted to go up through a
city called Karaganda, and then continue north and west,
stop and inspect the new-lands program and then go on up
through Siberia to Moscow. We told our guide that we wanted
to stop at Karaganda on the way. Several days later our
guide came to us and told us he had found a better area for
us to visit the virgin lands.
UZBEK MAN leaving o mosque
KAZAKH women ot o collective form
We asked whether we should drive, and he said it was
probably better for us to take a plane. In consultation with
the local government officials, we were told that to fly to
this new area would take about an hour and that we could
go on to Karaganda from there.
We asked whether we should leave our clothes in
Alma-Ata, where ye were, and stop to pick them up on
our way to Karaganda, but they advised us to take
them along with us. We boarded -the plane early one morn-
ing, and six and a half hours later and more than 1,000
miles away we got out. We had been shipped to Siberia.
Then they told us we couldn't go to Karaganda as there
were no planes there.
We wanted to get to Karaganda because it was in Central
Asia and because it was a coal-mining district. In addition.
\
66
U. S. HEWS a WOtlD «£POIT, Oct. 21. 1955 ^
i'_ 1
j
there was industry and copper mines that we wanted to see.
So we told them if there were no planes we would take the
train bade to Karaganda. They said there are no trains out of
there, and the only thing to do was to go north and get a
plane out of Novosibirsk.
We stayed and inspected the virgin-lands program in Bar-
naul* and several days later flew on to Novosibirsk. There
they tokT us we could not possibly go to Karaganda, there
were do planes and the trains were bad and, anyway, ft was
too far. We told them we were planning to go bade no mat-
ter how difficult it might seem. So we started back. When
we had gotten within a reasonable distance we were told by
the local government officials, **We've got orders from Moscow
that you can't go there.**
We found out lateT that there were trains from Barnaul to
a city very close to Karaganda and that we could also have
gotten a plane from Novosibirsk to a city very close to Kara-
ganda. In addition, we learned that we never had to go to
Barnaul in the first place because there are very important
virgin lands right outside Karaganda.
Q How do you explain that run-around?
A We learned in Moscow that Karaganda is one of the
great slave-labor camps in the Soviet Union. Some of the
Spanish soldiers, volunteers of World War II who were re-
leased last year, had been working there and have told about
ft. The Russians didn't want us to tee it. But they never said
no— just gave us the run-around until they saw we were going
to get there.
Q So there is no freedom to travel there?
(Continued on page 136)
U. L MEWS t WOIL £> REPORT, 0*1. 21, 1955 O
/ U
67
i L
■
o ;
Interview
LOOK BEHIND
RUSSIAN SMILES
Interview with
Bnkerf Konnorlv rnuntol fnr
7 »
Senate Subcommittee
[continued from page 67 J
A They let you see quite a bit, but, on those things that
•M tO’Jfhv, {kjy vstnn^f Uj vqm an j fk«y uunn'l gjya
you any information about diem.
Q You weren't trying to fee anything military, anyway,
were you?
A No. We were interested in the coal mines. Justice
Douglas was particularly in teres ted -he had been up to Beth-
lehem, Pa., and had inspected the steel plant and had gone
through some of the coal mines around there, and he wanted
to go into Karaganda and make a sort of comparative study.
It is one of the areas in Central Asia that has industry like
Bethlehem, and It would have been an interesting study.'
O Do they maintain anv boons in tiiat area?
A In every city that we went to they do have troops— it's
one of the things that strike you. One of die other things which
were of interest to me was the fact that there were so many
troops doing manual labor, which is something you don't see
in this country.
Q Were they in uniform?
A Yes. A great controversy was raised about Korea a num-
ber of years ago— about using our troops for labor purposes,
but these men in Russia are put to laying the pipes in the
streets, putting up buildings, laying bricks. We saw it in
Frunze. Tashkent and other cities. They do the majority of
the work in the oil fields around Baku.
O Do they get paid extra for that?
A No. It is one of the things that bear on this question
recently in the news about letting 600,000 soldiers out of
the Red Army. They might take their uniforms off and have
them continue at the same job. Of course, Baku is their oil
center, and they had soldiers driving all the trucks. There
were hardly any other workers there, other than uniformed
men. Even in Siberia, they had soldiers erecting the adminis-
tration building ut the airport.
O In the towns, where the soldiers were lounging around,
did they have their guns with them?
A Ves, often.
O How do they understand the language?
A I don't think they have any problem with that— in per-
forming their duties they probably don’t have much contact
with the local people. In addition, more and more people now
understand Russian. This is so despite the fact that the Rus-
sians maintain one set of schools for their children and one
set of schools for the dhfldrea of the local people. It is s
segregated school s yst e m
q urUy u
A The explanation the dfcfeb gave us is that people like
their own schools.
Q It isn’t a racial question?
A I believe that is a reasonable assumption. In every city
that we visited in Central Ask the schools were segregated—
the Russian school children in one school, the local children
fe> another.
O Is there a difference in color b e twe en the Russians and
the natives?
A Oh, yes, they are completely different
ft I jn gMtJcr*
A Oh, yes. The Russians are European, white. The natives
are Mongolian— a dark race.
O What about the religion? You said earlier the entire
legion is Moslem—
A Well, in Bukhara, which once was the center of religious
fanaticism, even probably more so than Mecca, they had
300 mosques and religious schools 35 years ago. Now they
have one mosque, and that looks like it is about to fall down,
and one school there where they teach about 100 students
and which has to serve the whole of Centra) Asia. They
don't have a mosque in Krasnovodsk. They don’t have a
mosque in Ashkhabad. Kruno vodsk has about 100,000 popu-
lation and Ashkhabad over 200,000. The mosque there was
partially damaged during an earthquake in 1948 and has
never been rebuilt. And they have no mosque in Stalinabad, a
city of about 300,000.
So it is rather difficult for them to practice their religion,
particularly in the face of the outspoken hostility of their
Government. Communism teaches there is no God and that
religion is for backward people, and Russia obWously wants
no backward people.
O You had no means of telling whether they had fallen
away?
A No. In Bukhara we went to a Moslem service on Friday,
and there were only about 20 people in attendance— they were
all old men. However, you hear conflicting reports as to
whether people are more or less active in their religion than
they were a few years ago. There is no doubt that the Rus-
sians have tried to destroy the peoples religious belief.
Whether they have been successful is difficult to tell. There
are a great number of Baptists in that area, surprisingly.
Q Russians or Orientals?
A Russians. The minister in Tashkent said that in 1952 he
had a congregation of 700 Baptists, and now he has a con-
gregation of 2,000. When we attended, there were over 1,000
people there, and there was also a good-sized congregation
in Frunze.
RISE IN CHURCHGOING-
Q Was that the result of missionary activity?
A It might be. The newspapers in Russia keep deploring
the fact that more people are going to church and that even
Communist Party members are now going to church. There
might be some significance fblhat. However, I don't feel that
I am qualified to say.
Q You say the newspapers deplore the fact that people are
going to church?
A Yes. There was a letter in a paper in Moscow from a
woman who said she was a party member and that her
fianc£ wanted to get married in the church, and would that
be proper, and the answer was that it certainly would be
no
136
si
U. S. NEWS * WORLD REPORT, Oct. 21, 1 9$\P 1
-+SU* **.*>*< ¥*&»& **mW*#*rvJ. J?*&u
•V
• • • ^'Wirei in oil rooms we stayed in were tapped"
oonpletely improper. The Communist Petty is egeinst soy
ch ure h services, end there ere letters in the papers deploring
the fact that more people are going to church and that even
Gonania Party members are going to church. So evidently
there fa 'fame sort of religious revive] going on inside of
Russia, fast it is difficult for somebody who doesn’t speak die
knguayto get the facts on it.
Q Were there any Catholic services, or Russian Orthodox?
A There are Russian Orthodox services. There are a num-
ber of their churches in Central Asia— not in all the cities but
in some of them. And, again, the ones we went to, there were
older people, mostly women, attending the service with only
a small percentage of younger people. However, in contrast,
at Baptist services there were a great number of young people
and a great number of men.
J might add that the Communists have allowed only a few
churches of any denomination— Jewish, Moslem or Catholic—
to remain open. Most churches in the Soviet Union have been
turned into museums or stores and their contents— chalices,
etc —placed on exhibition.
Speaking of this religious question, in Leningrad they have
a museum which is devoted completely to ridiculing God
and people s religious beliefs. For instance, as you enter they
have God sitting on top of the cross, wearing a top hat,
smoking a cigar and portrayed as a capitalist while a work-
ing man is bent over carrying the Cross and Him.
SHOW PLACE FOR ASIA-
Q Did you get the impression that the standard of living
in Central Asia had risen or fallen?
A I would say it had risen. 1 think one of the reasons that
area is so important is that it is going to be an area in which
the Russians are going to bring in the people of Asia and
the people of the Middle East, and say, for example, ’'Now
you know the condition in Iran. There you have absentee
landlordship, large estates and extremely poor villages. Here
in Central Asia there is no starvation and the people s standard
of living is improving each year. Our people are living better
and better. That's what you can do under Communism.”
I think this is going to be a tremendous problem. Chester
Wilmott [British newspaper and radio correspondent, author
of ”The Struggle for Europe”] said in his book in 1952 that
the future of the world might well be decided in Central
Asia. One of the main reasons for that is that the countries
of the Middle East and Asia will be influenced by the success,
or lack of it, of Communism in the republics of Central Asia.
Even now it might well be an impressive sight for people
coming into this area unless, of course, they consider the
human sacrifices that were made and are being made to
achieve tome of these gains— the possible liquidation of 1 mil-
lion people in Kazakhstan alone, for instance.
Q YouTpent six weeks, most of it in that area?
A Ye*.
Q Did you ever get a chance to talk to anyone alone, or
was your guide always there?
A He was always there. We didn’t speak Russian or the
local language, either one of us. .
Q They wouldn't let you bring in your own interpreter?
A No, we tried to, but the Russian Embassy in Washington
wouldn’t even answer our letters of request.
Q How do you know this fellow interpreted correctly?
A We know on occasion he did not But that is one of
those things. I think we got a great deal out of the trip, and
we went in with the mdri standing' that that was how it
would he.
Q Did you talk with the MVP p e op l e , the secret police?
A We did. We saw the heads of the MVD in Alma-Ata,
the capital of Kazakhstan. It was the first time the MVD has
ever given an interview to people of a foreign country.
Among the matters we discussed was wire tapping.
O Did they tap whes?
A They said that they didn’t They said that they frowned
upon that ’‘disgraceful” practice, that they never touch mail,
either; that it was most despicable for anyone to do that
sort of thing.
They told us they have about 250 different headquarters
in Kazakhstan alone. In addition to their own people, they
control the police as well as the fire department.
We asked them specifically about the mass movement of
individuals from one area to another by the MVD. They
denied to us that they had this power in transporting indi-
viduals, although it is specifically set forth in their by-laws
and we know of examples where it has happened. In fact,
when we were in Siberia we saw some of the people who had
been so moved and took some pictures of them.
Q When you say that they don’t tap wires or put in dicta-
phones, did you hear in Moscow about what Chancellor
Adenauer of Germany had complained about?
A I understand that his companions found so many dicta-
phones in all their hotel rooms that they refused to stay in the
accommodations prepared for them and ended up sleeping in
a railroad car in the station.
Q Did you hear anybody in the embassies complaining
about wire tapping?
A I’ve heardlt a great deah
Q Even before you left this country?
A Yes, and I think undoubtedly the wires in all the rooms
we stayed in were tapped. After conversations we had, we
would find results of things we had said in our rooms.
Q To each other?
A Yes, and that would lead us to the unmistakable con-
clusion that our rooms had taps in them— in fact, we had
conversations for that purpose alone, because we wanted to
put over a particular idea and it worked out that way.
Q What else did the MVD people tell you? "
A Well, we were interested, of course, in the transporta-
tion of people.
ROLE OF SECRET POLICE-
Q You saw these MVD people in different places?
A Yes, the uniformed ones we saw in every city we went
to. We asked the MVD officials if their people were all in
uniform, and they said, "’Yes.” After pursuing it, they said,
“On certain jobs we take them out of uniform, but they are
in uniform most of the time.” And actually we know that a
large percentage of the MVD are secret police who wear no
uniform. We asked them if they operated outside the Soviet
Union, and they said, “No.” And then we asked if there was
any security organization operating outside the Soviet Union,
and they said, **No ”
Then we said there must be something that they do out-
side the Soviet Union, and they said, "Well, there might be,
but we don’t know anything about it.” Petrov’s story as it
(Continued on next page)
u. a news a worm «F*oirr »»
COLLECTIVE FARM: PH in foreground is for storage
+
■ n.
spe ar ed to U.S. Now* & World Report several weeks ago
{Issue of Sept. SO, 1055] malm that answer untruthful.
They explained that they had control of the prisons in the
Soviet Union. We asked f they had any labor in the prison?
who did work on hriMinp or did work on roads, and the>
said, “Yes, and tbeparents and wives of these prisoner* writ*
in and dunk us. Tney thtok ft is wonderful because a lot oJ
these people never did any work before to their lives, and wc
put them to work."
O Did yon talk to these MVD people in many placet?
A Just at Alma-Ata. We asked about how many prisoner?
were doing prison work, and they said they had jurisdiction
only in Kazakhstan so they wouldn’t know. And we asked
them bow many were doing work in Kazakhstan, and they
said that they didn’t have those figures at band. Of course,
Karaganda, which I told you about earlier, is in Kazakhstan
and is one of the great slave-labor camps in the Soviet
Union.
Q You said some of the party officials were a little un-
pleasant at times— in what way?
A It was their mannerisms and their refusal on occasion
to give us honest and coned information, rather than being
outwardly rude.
Q They were abrupt?
A Yes, sometimes. We were always extremely interested
in the collectivization problem and the local people s opposi-
tion to it, and that conversation always ended on a rather
raffled tone.
Q When you asked about the Kazakhs?
A Yes, but also about the other peoples of Central Asia. In
each area, we tried to find out about what problems the
Government faced during this period when individual owner-
ship was being abolished.
HUMAN COST OF "PROGRESS"-
Q Why were you interested in that particularly?
A There was the serious allegation that there had been so
much opposition to collectivization and that the Russians had
taken stringent measures to crash the local peoples resist-
ance, that we wanted to find out the facts. You can go into
this area as a visitor like Nehru [India’s Prime Minister] and
the degree to which it has been built up is impressive, from
a materialistic point of view. But I think also the price that
was paid in human beings in order to make this change and,
too, that the people have such a difficult life even now should
be considered.
Sections of population were banished or liquidated to
achieve the domination of the state, The breaking down of
family life is effectively carried out by mothers working for
the state and depositing their babies progressively in state
nurseries, later into Pioneer camps, and, ultimately, in the
Young Communist League. During this most important forma-
tive period the children and the young people are being thor-
oughly indoctrinated that their first love should be the state,
not God, their parents or their family. *
Q How young do they take the children?
A In the nurseries they take them at the age of 2 months.
They are not supposed to take them until they are 7 years
old in the Pioneer camps, but at the one we went to we saw
children of 3 or 4 yean of age. The woman in charge ex-
plained that these children were just visiting for the day,
when we inquired, but then, when the rest of the children
sang songs, these younger ernes knew all the words.
Incidentally, one of the songs they sang was about the
French dock workers’ not wanting to fight against the dock
r-0
?
138
U. S. NCWS a WOftlD tE K>tT, Oct. 21, 1*53
'i;
V.\
*i nwti h'... f^j.‘ .
I
workers of the Soviet Union-end all this starting at the age
of 3 or 4.
Q These w ine ries -do the Httie ones star there aD the
time? Do they go home at night?
A Yes, I imagine so. However, we were there at 6:30
at night and, out of a group of 110 children in this particular
nursery, fb ere were about 60 left, die oldest being 3. The
pai e uls iiont going to see a great deal of them at that rate.
O w then they go in the morning early?
A Yes, and they provide a little room where, if you are
nursing ^fcur child, you can come in and nurse the child and
then go beck to the factory.
Q Going back to the houses, die Russians usually have pic-
tures fa their houses— are there pictures of Stalin?
A in the administration building of the farms they always
had pictures of Lenin and Stalin and sometimes of other
Communist leaders such as Molotov, and occasionally we saw
Mao Tie-tun g*s picture. However, they have Lenin and Stalin
everywhere, until it comes out of your ears. On the floors of
every hotel, in the streets, they have statues and pictures—
every place you go.
While in Russia we inquired into the question of academic
freedom and the right of the citizen or the press to criticize
the Government. We talked to judges, professors and presi-
dents of the universities, and they said there wasn't any op-
position because what the Government did was always right.
All the people of Russia realized this and realized that if they
opposed the Government they would be wrong, and so, there-
fore, no one did. What the Government did was absolutely
correct, they said, so why would anybody oppose it?
Q Did you find in the cities that there were sections with
office buildings, or were they small business sections and the
rest all rural in appearance, in these cities of 800,000?
A The business and living quarters are interspersed in the
cities. Tashkent is a city of 800,000, and there it’s a 25-year
plan that they have— in which" time they are * going to Ary to
modernize the city. They gave us a figure that 50 per cent of
the city' is still the old city. It looked like probably even more
than that, but there are some very’ beautiful parks and very
beautiful trees.
A FORM OF SLAVERY? YES-
Q You mentioned the question of slavery— do you think
their whole system really is a form of slavery? What is the
broad impression you took away?
A I believe it is. Communism retains its basic evils whether
it is the Khrushchev type or the more oppressive Stalin type.
Recently the new rulers have made certain concessions in the
Soviet Union to the people— for instance, they allow them now
to go into Red Square, they allow them to visit the Kremlin.
The farmer is permitted to plant more things that he wants
to on his own private lot— they have made certain concessions.
But the main things about controlling Government still exist
in the hands of the Presidium.
They haven't relinquished any of the real power, and
the ordinary citizen feels the full extent of it— even to where
a factory or farm worker cannot leave his iob without per-
mission of his superior— in other words, the state.
They still have on the books that idea that the MVD
through the Department of Interior can try somebody with a
secret trial and send him off to prison and extend the sentence
when he is in prison. You have intense concentration on labor
— that everybody must work for the state, the women must
work— so therefore the family unit, which I think our society
(Continued on p ext page)
TRANSPORT: Formers ride camels near Ashkhabad
FARMERS: They work on a stole farm near Frunze
-All pfcaU* Uku to Robert F. Itraoed?
BARGAINING: A market scene in Toshkent
n
0. i NEWS ft WORLD REPORT, Oct. II, 1*55
139
, o o
• • • "I don’t think U» S. should make all those concessions"
If buflt oa, it all broken down. You ere w or ki ng (or the state
—that’* the important thing, ft’s not your mother or your father
Or your family, it's the state— the state has become god in
A But people coming beck from Russia me aD ringing
tpfi n of praises— Senators, Cong ressm en saying they found
A padt better than they expected, and Russia they thought
mm fine, the people are getting along aD right, and so on.
Did you come back with that highly favorable idea?
A No, I think you can tell that 1 didn't like what I saw.
Q Why did they get that reaction— why did it seem that
way to them?
A That I don't know.
I think it is difficult to go into just a city like Moscow and
Leningrad and come out with an impression of a country’,
any znore than if you just came to New York and Washington.
But 1 think, however, it is the easiest thing in the world for
the Russians to say now that they want peace, and that they
are going to cut down their Army by 600,000. However, there
is still no inspection.
I don't fee that they have made any move that anybody
can check on. As I say, these small concessions they make
to their own people are concessions that will mean nothing
to the Government and the Government's control of the peo-
ple. They are just irritants on the people anyway— they are
not conceding anything.
In return for their allowing some Senators and some of
the rest of us into the Soviet Union, there is talk in our
country, as well as a lot of countries in Europe, of cutting
down our defense commitments. 1 haven't kept up with the
papers here— I haven't had a chance to read them— but I see
we are talking about sending over more technical magazines,
allowing more technical magazines to go out. We are talking
about allowing more trade in strategic goods. In 1954, after
the meeting in Paris, we cut the list [of prohibited exports to
Russia] by 50 per cent and are now talking about cutting
ft even more, The agricultural delegation unquestionably
made s tremendous contribution to Soviet agriculture.
INEFFICIENCY ON FARMS-
Q Which delegation?
A Our group that went there, and their group that came
here. We are so far more efficient— in the Soviet Union the
average farm worker can handle four hectares of farm land,
which is about 10 acres. In this country our farmers can
individually handle 20 hectares, which is about 50 acres.
We are that much more efficient.
We visited one of the best cotton farms, outside of Tash-
kent, which is the center of their cotton production and where
their production per acre is about as good as we have in this
country. It is very productive and they have done a good job.
But each worker would handle maybe 1 hectare or IX hec-
tare of cotton— about 3 or 4 acres. In this country a worker
wfll handle between 8 and 10 hectares of cotton— about 25
acres of cotton— on the average cotton farm. On farms in
Iowa, one worker handles about 55 hectares of corn, about
135 acres.
In the Soviet Union, on an extremely good farm that we
visited, each worker was handling between 3 and 4 hectares
—about 10 acres of com. It is the same with wheat. The
average worker handles 70 hectares of wheat in Nebraska, or
about 175 acres, while on these good farms we visited in the
Soviet Union they were \mtiKng about 40 acres of wheat.
They have a labor shortage fa the Soviet Union, and get-
ting these people off these farms on to the new lands and
putting them back into factories is a tremendous contribution
to the Soviet economy— wh ich, of course, is a war economy.
Q They say they are going to be our brothers—
A That’s fine. All I say is— and Tin all in favor of that, I
think its terrific, and I think we should have more trade
and mil of that— but all I cay is: Before we do all those
things let's get a quid pro quo on it. Just on the basis of a
smile, I don't think we should make all those concessions.
They have a system of government which is entirely differ-
ent from ours, which » based on the rights and dignity of
tiie individual. I am not saying they aren't entitled to
theirs, but they just don't believe in the same sort of things
we 4?.
Take the labor unions. Their idea of a labor union's duties
is to make sure that the sanitary conditions are properly
maintained in the factories.
Q Did you inquire about it?
A Yes. We asked what would happen if they felt the mem-
bers of their union were not getting paid enough. They
said, "Oh, that’s impossible, because the state decides how
much a worker is going to get paid, and they believe in the
worker."
HOW "LIBERALS" STAND-
Q How do you account for the fact that so many people
in America who call themselves “liberals” are so enthusiastic
about Russian things and want us to recognize them and play
ball with them? Why, if all this ideological thing is contrary
to true liberalism, why is there such a sympathy for them?
A 1 think the same groups have made mistakes before.
Q It seems to me everything you have said would be
anathema to any real liberal”—
A That is what I can't understand either.
Q Take Justice Douglas— were his views and yours the
same?
A I have the greatest admiration for Justice Douglas— I
would not presume to speak for him.
Q Did they make a great many concessions to you over
there?
A Some concessions, at least over the old policies— the fact
that we are allowed to travel in Central Asia at all, and, in
addition, I think they showed us things and allowed us to do
things they wouldn't have permitted a year ago, but I don't
think it adds up to a great deal.
Since they have changed their policy nobody has gained
but them. The fact that Justice Douglas, five Senators and
Bob Kennedy were able to go to Russia— what is that for
America to get out of ft?
For instance, you've got a Government in Burma which is
trying to exist, and we might disagree with some parts of it,
but it's a democratic Government that is trying to exist. And
you’ve got a Cominform thaf £ trying to destroy it.
Why don't they announce they are going to withdraw sup-
port from Communist organizations in India, Burma or
Malaya, or even Italy, or France or this country? Why don't
they actually come through and withdraw support and stop
supplying money to their forces within the countries that are
trying to overthrow the local governments?
(Continued on page 142)
'4
140
U. S. NEWS « WORLD *EFO*T, Otf. II. 1955
Interview
• . . " We have contributed to Russia's military strength"
How about withdrawing their troops from Poland or
Eastern Europe, allowing the unification of Germany, or
giving their independence bad: to die people of Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania?
&4t*s have something like that Or lets allow complete
j#v Inspection. 1 think they should make some definite con-
tribution other than tipping their hat and smiling.
■^0 Were you impressed by the strength of Russia?
A Of course, they have terrific numbers and the whole
State Is controlled by five or six people that can deckle the
future overnight or in a minute, and that gives them power.
Q Other visitors come hade and say they get a feeling of
power or strength m Russia—
A I don't know what they mean by that I think die Rus-
sians unquestionably have a strong Army. They have sacri-
ficed a lot in order to build their military forces, their tanks
and planes. However, we have contributed to their military
Strength in die past We went through the steel plant in
Novosibirsk, and most of the machinery in the plant was
British and American. They were making boring machines
and presses. It is now a question whether through relax-
ing our law requiring a list of strategic goods we will help
them again.
O Was what you saw Lend-Lease stuff?
A No, they were mostly sold to the Russians during the
1930s. As another example, it was an American engineer, as I
understand it, who built the Dnieper Dam. Maybe we are
going to go through all that again and maybe overnight they
are going to decide they don’t like us any more— and then
where are we? We all want peaceful coexistence, but if we
militarily weaken ourselves and strengthen them during this
period, in a short tqne we wilj have neither peace nor
coexistence.
O What impression did you get in Moscow when you were
there? Is there about to be any election campaign over there?
A No, they are not out campaigning. Of course, you read
in books about the press being controlled and thought being
controlled. But it really shocked me, talking to beads of
universities and having them tel! us that there is no reason
to have debates in schools about Government policies, Le.,
whether it is good for the Russians to be in the United Na-
tions or whether they did well in Geneva, or anything like
that, because what the Government says is right— and there
will not be any opposition to what is right-only unanimity,
which is what they said they have in Russia.
Q Is it a military system, essentially?
A Yes.
Q They’re strong for harmony?
A Yes, and they don’t have students who believe in God,
because religion, as a university president told us, is for back-
ward people, and students shouldn’t be backward.
HATRED FOR RUSSIANS-
O Do you have a feeling that, if you walked in with your
own interpreter, people whom you met in Central Asia might
talk if they were sure they could talk freely?
A Yes. The basis for my thinking is that the area was
intensely religious 30 years ago, and the Russians have un-
doubtedly incurred deep hatred from the local people for
their attempt to destroy their religious feelings, as well as for
the suffering that they have caused in imposing their system
on the local inhabitants.
Q Did you have amuabom with many people?
A We spoke to people oo farms, hi factories, we had sev-
eral street conferences, we spoke to teachers and Judges. We
attended a lot of trials— we were both interested in court
procedure.
O How are the trials?
A It If an entirely different system, of course, than we
have. There is no jury, for one thing. It is a far looser system.
There are no rules of evidence as we know them.
Q A man k guilty mi til he k proved innocent?
A I don’t know; but three people sit in judgment on the
average case. 1 think they try to do what is right Admittedly,
It is a very loose procedure. There doesn’t seem to be any
role prohibiting the admission of hearsay evidence, for in-
stance. The three judges— the chief judge being a lawyer and
the other two may or may not be— just try to make a deter-
mination of what is right and what is wrong based on all the
facts that are presented to them.
If nothing else, however, the lack of rules of evidence
would make their system completely unacceptable to us in
that a defendant would not know what to expect and the
loose procedure leaves the door open to corruption.
Q Have the people been trained in the law?
A Yes. However, there is far less emphasis on that At
Novosibirsk, which has a population of over 900,000, there
are about 50 lawyers. So there is far less emphasis on law.
WHERE ALL IS "PERFECT"—
Q Are there many crimes?
A They claim that there are not.
Another thing that strikes you, of course, is that everything
is so "perfect" in Russia. They claim they have no juvenile
delinquency because the families bring up their children so
well; that their criminal courts are being dissolved because
there is no crime. And, of course, that is not correct because
they gave amnesty two years ago to all criminals and they
have had a tremendous problem with them since then. They
say there are no automobile accidents because everybody
drives well. The reason everybody drives well, it was explained
to us, is because all drivers in Russia are "disciplined.” Per-
sonally, 1 never had such harrowing drives.
Q Who takes over when a man shoots someone? Do the
local police move in? If it is a military area does the military
take over?
A The judges in Baku said they don’t have any prob-
lems really like that— that the worst things they had was
jealousy and some women quarreling. But, where they do,
the militiamen -since die Revolution they call policemen
militiamen— make the arrest. The military have jurisdiction
in military areas and, also, most importantly in certain
political crimes. For instance, it was a military court that
tried Beria [Lavrenti P. Bern, former head of secret police,
executed in 1953].
Q Did you ask about th t writ of habeas corpus?
A Yes. Only one out of the approximately 30 judges we
talked to bad heard of habeas corpus. But in fairness I might
add they don’t have habeas corpus in most of the European
countries. The Russians have rules that an individual is to
be brought to trial within 20 days, and that period can
be extended, under certain circumstances, for 5 or 10 more
days. However— and this is the problem in Russian justice—
(Continued on page 144)
ns
v
142
U. $. NEWS A WOtlD REPORT, OcL 21, 1955
Interview
[ ' 4
k
• •• "Quite o bit of drunkenness
exc ep tion s on be mode in political trial* for political crimes,
and If it is to the interest of the state you have exceptions.
If it is a political trial it goes before a military or special
‘Jfc are going through a period of coexistence, and it seems
tree we ought to examine carefully and continuously the
S mri et system of government and justice so we know the type
of people with whom we are dealing. A trial is supposed to
be public, but, in political cases, exceptions can also be
made to that. This was the procedure followed during the
vast majority of the purge trials of the 1930s— which, ex-
cept for a very few, were conducted in secret. The trials
of Beria and his assistants are more recent examples of
secret trials.
Another example, they have a procedure— and there is
talk now of repealing it— that a hoard of the Minister of the
Interior, who runs the secret police, can sentence a man to
five years In a labor camp. He serves his five years and then
comes and says, "I want to get out now, my five years are
up.* They can then say the board has met again and decided
he should have his sentence extended another 10 years.
Back be goes, without a trial, and that's the end of it.
Q Don’t they have to keep their labor force up in their
prison camps?
A Yes, but 1 think they can keep their labor force up in
other ways also. You see these women who are doing heavy
manual work in the towns and cities and just getting enough
to keep alive— it’s not much different from being in a labor
camp.
"EVERYBODY IS TO WORK"— ,
. 4 I v > 1
Q Where do they get them from? ‘ *
A It is just this propaganda that everybody is to work. If
you have children, they have these nurseries, and the child is
taken at two months and put in a nursery , and I am sure they
have very good care. However, the system is that everybody
is to work for the state, The state is all— the individual, the
family, is secondary.
These nurseries permit the mother to go out and work for
the state. We saw women working in a steel plant, operating
cranes, and working on heavy construction jobs. The Russians
are constructing a large bridge at Novosibirsk, and I have
pictures of these women lifting these heavy beams and other
materials.
Q How about child labor?
A Some of the people in these plants looked awfully young,
and we asked about that. They said they don't take them
under 16 years of age except under exceptional circumstances,
and then only for a half day. In one plant they told us they
took them at 14.
Q Did you go into any of the jails?
A No.
0 Are there any jails?
A I've seen jails— we passed them. In addition, in Ashkha-
bad we saw a building being constructed and around it was
all this barbed wire, and watch towers. We asked what it was,
and they said it was "just some work going on there*
We asked if it was a prison, and they said, "No.* So we
asked why there was barbed wire, and they finally said, "We
had some prisoners there a year or a year and a half ago,
but they’ve gone.*
1 question the accuracy of that answer because, first, the
in Central Asia, in Moscow"
buildings were not far sloug h construction and, second, be-
cause Ashkhabad is stiD a doced city and it could well be
closed because of the prosoDO* of slave labor. I wouldn’t be
surprised if they still have e&hcr prison or slave labor working
there.
Q What do you mean by "dosed* cities?
A Where foreigners weren’t allowed.
O Did you see much drunkenness on the str e e t s ?
A We ssw quite a bit of ft in Centra] Asia. Our guide spoke
to us of it as a problem and asked us if we were having the
same difficulty in the United States.
Q In Moscow they say you never see it—
A We saw quite a bit of it.
Q How are the people dothed— Eastern or Western?
A Both.
Q What Sand of hospital faculties do they have m that
area?
A They seemed very good, very dean. They have a great
number of doctors, mostly women. They have some won-
derful theaters in that area and very good shows— operas,
some ballet. We visited a number of the libraries. They
have a large number of books. They don’t lend them out
as we do in this country. You go into the library and read.
They have only a small number of books which are avail-
able for loan.
Q Do people work every day?
A Six days a week for eight hours.
Q What do they do with their day off?
A That I don’t know. They do go to the theater— it is very
popular. Sports are extremely popular, basketball particularly.
Q Are there American movies?
A I didn’t see any, although some people in Moscow asked
us what Deanna Durbin was doing, and also about Tancan.
O Is Sunday the day off?
A Not always. They work on Sundays in some of the fac*
tones.
Q What other sports do they have besides basketball?
A They have what we call soccer and they call football,
and it is also very popular. We saw a lot of small basketball
courts.
O Did you go to people’s homes?
A Yes.
Q Were they curious about you?
A Yes* the people in stores and in the streets gathered
around and sometimes asked questions.
PEOPLE WERE FRIENDLY-
Q Were they friendly?
A Yes.
The people were all very friendly. Some of the officials
and some of the members of the Communist Party on occasion
were not very friendly. But when we went into the farm areas
—it makes me feel their intense propaganda doesn’t get
through as effectively as it might, because, if they had been
told for 9 or 10 years that ^e'were really their enemies and
believed it, I don’t think they could turn that off and have
people as genuinely friendly as they were.
Another thing, we used to ask in each place what they most
disliked about the United States, and what they most liked,
and invariably the answer to the thing that they liked the
most was our mechanical ability and know-how.
(Continued on page 146)
rib
144
U. S. NEWS t WORLD REPORT, Oct 21, 1955
Interview
,,, "Average local person lives in a mud hut"
mm
.-j
O They ftffi Use oar nuAteyf
A They still feel we could teach Aero. They were very
Mtptod about the agricultural delegation, and all of them ed-
mMf&A Aat they were going to get far more out of exchange
4 l rfvWti by U S. and Soviet farm experts] than we, because
we were so far advanced in agriculture.
Q What do they dislike about us?
A The question that was most frequently raised was about
Ae Negroes and whether they were mistreated and discrimi-
nated against, segregated and lynched.
Q How did they know we have any Negroes?
A 1 expect they have been told about them by the radio
and the press. That was the most frequent criticism and ques-
tion. Because of the popularity of basketball and the fact that
this question has been raised, I think it would be a wonderful
thing if the Harlem Globetrotters [Negro professional basket-
ball team] would consider going to Russia and touring the
country for a month or so as they have done in the Middle
East and other areas of the world. However, I doubt if Ae
Russians would give them permission, as that would help
the U. S.
Q What about typical home life in Central Asia?
A The average local person lives in a mud hut, with a mud
Boor. The homes of Ae Russians in Ae area are better*
FOR WATER: A DITCH-
Q One family?
A Often, families share homes or apartments. Regarding
, sanitation, in Samarkand Ae local people get Aeir water
r out of a ditch that flows by Ae edge of Ae road-as Aey do in
^Teheran and a number .of ot her citi es in Ae Middle East Iel.
jgcx uicu water ffWTT? pump.-Mrot 6f Ae pe^fT*
in houses and apartments have to rely on outdoor sanitation
facilities. Some of Ae farmhouses are nice, however. The
bouses for Ae people from Ae factories are small-Ae rent
is very little, but Ae rooms are very small,
O Were Aey typical?
A 1 am sure we were shown only the best farms and only
Ae best apartments and only Ae best factories. However, we
could see Ae more typical houses, walking along Ae streets.
They did have some heat in the homes we went to,
O The American farmer we interviewed here after he re-
turned from Russia said his impression was Aat the people
were much happier Aan he had Aought Aey would be, but
he thought this was because, Aough Aings for them com-
pared to Aings for our people were not nearly as good, Aey
were much better compared to what Aey had had—
A I agree. And I think a lot of Ae areas arc far better oft
Aan Ae comparable areas in the Middle East.
Q The reason Ae American fanners were impressed was
because Ae situation wasn't as bad as Aey Aought it would
he— pot because it compared favorably to ours—
A There is absolutely no comparison to anything we have
in this country— either from a material or a spiritual point of
view. Things we take for granted in Ae United States lust
don't exist them.
Q Such as what?
A Well, for instance, if you don't like working here, you
can get up and walk downstairs and that's the end of it, or
if you want to take a train and go to Boston, you can get on
the train and go to Boston. You don't have to check wiA
anybody. ,
tf you are accused of a crime in America, you are accused
and tried hi public, and your relatives and friends will be
Acre, and there is going to be a newspaper there and if they
don't Bke Ae way you are treated someAing wffl be done
about it I A ink Aat we take such things for granted. Many
of the leaders of Asia chide Ae United States for being ao
m a te rialis tic— I think our problem is that we take the rights
Aat we have in this country for granted and we don't talk
about them.
Q We are supposed to be losing all Aose rights— do you
think we are?
A I don't agree wiA that, either.
O How long were you in Moscow?
A About five or six days.
Q TVA you get a different feeling about Moscow than you
had about Ae other parts of Russia?
A I think they are better off in Moscow than Aey were in
some of Ae Central Asian and Siberian cities. The Aing
that struck roe, however: I went to Warsaw, and I Aink
Warsaw is 100 per cent better off Aan any place I saw in
Russia.
Q Better than Moscow?
A Yes, Ae people are far better dressed, Aere is a much
brighter appearance, and Ae big thing is Aat Ae Polish
people are a stubborn people. They have a natural dislike
for Ae Russians, and Ae Communists are having a hard time
getting through a large number of Aeir Aeories. For instance,
you can’t get into a church on Sunday because Aey are so
crowded. People who never went to church before are now
going to church.
0 Are there any Jewish colonies in the Siberian area?
M ^ Not A at we visited.^We asked to visit Ae synagogue in
vTiXr. vkt vfVTc^iiiert ,* ant? ' W ci c"
told that Aere wasn’t one. When we got to Moscow, Ae
rabbi Aere said Aat Aere was a synagogue in Stalinabad,
so once again we were given wrong information.
RUSSIA? "I HAD ENOUGH"—
Q Would you like to go back to Russia again?
A I had enough of it.
Q Would you like to live there?
A No. I am a firm believer in Ae capitalistic system.
Q You think wiA all our troubles and all our friction and
all our defects, we may be better off than Aey are?
A I think anybody who doesn’t Aink so should take a trip
there. *
1 am hopeful, like everybody in Ae world, Aat what hap-
pened at Ae Geneva Conference and what will happen at
Ae meetings of Ae four Foreign Ministers will mean peace
for us all. However, on Ae basis of what I saw and learned
in Russia, I am very distrustful Aat we will get anything
oAer Aan smiles.
We are dealing with a Government to whom God, Ae
family or Ae individual means noAing and whose practice
it has been in Ae past to make promises and treaties to serve
Aeir purposes and to break them when it has been to
Aeir advantage. It can only be suicidal for us during
Ais period on Ae basis of smiles to strengthen Russia and
weaken ourselves.
For impressions of thirteen Congressmen who have just
completed visits to Russia, see page 1 00.
146
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J Y ^ cat* April 26, 1956
« Mr. Nichols)
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SUBJECT: ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY
MEETING WITH THE DIRECTOR
Narkol* .
Btlwat
Itobo _
PURPOSE:
RoL
>?/ / Fjortc/c
To furnish identifying data~concer '
en» edy~ C mei upunSeT
Ttk.lts
HoilOMS .
J
V
p
for the Senate Investigations Subcommittee, who has rtqueste3~to see the Director.
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA:
Born No vemb er 20, 1925, Boston, Massachusetts. Attended
Harvard and University of Virginia Law School. Son of'Jdseph P. Kennedy, former
Ambassador to England, and brother of Senator John F. Kennedy (D-Mass. ).
—7, 0
PREVIOUS MEMORANDA :
Memoranda were previously prepared re Kennedy dated July 20 and
November 1, 1955, which are attached /^In March, 1954, you talked with Kennedy
concerning testimony in the Annie Lee Moss case and the Director noted, "The
attitude of Kennedy in this matter clearly shows need for absolute circumspection in
any conversation with him. " (121-2900-39)
On May 13, 1955, Kennedy was guest on Dave Garroway’s television
program and was questioned concerning the Dr. John Peters case. His comments
concerning FBI were favorable. (121-4200-167)
Kennedy was contacted by Bureau Agents regarding T;he testimony of
Harry Lev before Kennedy’s Subcommittee in connection with the manufacture of
military hats and caps. Kennedy was uncooperative and advised he would prefer
waiting until testimony was completed. The Director noted, in jpart, "Kennedy was
completely uncooperative until after he had squeezed all the publicity out of the ~
matter he could. " (46-23395-107) j „i.'W
* ECORDED-9
cc - Mr. Holloman
cc - Mr. Nichols
Enclosures (2) _
FJHrgrs ^ * P
(7) -M V
6 i hay 171956
INDEXED • 1
« MAY 9 1955 \
& $o
\
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Memorandum to Mr. Nichols
April 26, 1056
On November 4, 1955, the Director met with Kennedy who
discussed some of his impressions regarding his trip to Russia, most of
which were covered in detail in the interview in the U. 8. News 6 World
Report, appearing in the October 21, 1955, issue. The Director pointed
out it was obvious Kennedy returned from Russia with a rather dim impression
of ite economy and alleged liberties. (77-51387-25)
Kennedy, as Chief Counsel for Senate Committee on Government
Operations, sent a letter to the Bureau dated December 20, 1955, requesting
examination of two documents to determine whether they were prepared on the
same typewriter. One document dated June 27, 1955, was on the letterhead
of A. C. Clothing Manufacturing Company, Atlantic City, New Jersey, signed
by Herman P. Kravitz, which was addressed to Kennedy. Letter advised
Kennedy that no improper demands had been made by personnel of A. C. Clothing
Manufacturing Company for the award of contracts. The other document was a
typewritten note with wording similar to letter signed by Kravitz; however, the
second document had been torn into several pieces giving the appearance it had
been retrieved from a wastebasket. Laboratory examination revealed both
documents were prepared on same typewriter. Bufiles reflect Herman Kravitz
was found guilty in U. S. District Court, New York City, December 17, 1954,
for embezzlement of Government property and sentenced to pay a $5, 000 fine.
Bufiles also reflect Kravitz is listed as an individual who is prohibited from
entering into contractual relationship with the Army. (95-61979 -2)
Kravitz is currently a witness before Kennedy's Committee.
(Washington Post and Times Herald 4/25/56)
RECOMMENDATION:
None. For information.
■^Cnaei 4&f aU* £>r>xaie
WAIHINOTUN, D. C.
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SEP 11 jg 56
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OFFICE Of DIRE
FEDERAL BUREAU Of I WEST I CAT I OR
OR I TED STATES OEPARTMEIT OF JUSTICE
United States Senate
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Hoover,
Mr. Tol
Mr. ■ icy
loanfc
Mr. 0«lMont
Nr. Mason
Mr. Nofcr
Mr. Parsons. -
Mr. Rosen y ,
Mr. T— . /A
Mr. Jones
Just a note to tell you how much I
admire your very fine work in the
Brinks, Weinberg and Reisel cases.
You have established a record of
which the whole country is very
proud.
Mr. Hease
Mr* Winterrowd
Tele, Room
Mr* Holloman
Miss Holmes
Miss Gandy
nan
I hope the United States continues to enjoy your .
leadership for a long period of time.
Sincerely yours,
/ s/ Bob Kennedy
COPY:hmb
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Mr. Robert F. Kennedy
Chief counsel "
Investigations Sub commit tee
Room 109
United States Senate
Washington, D. C.
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September T, 1956
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Dear Mr. Kennedy:
Many thanks for your thoughtful note postmarked *
August 31, 1956, and for your commendatory remarks concerning
this Bureau’s work in connection with the Brink’s, Weinberger
and Riesel cases.
encouraging.
Your good words are deeply appreciated and mos£ se
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Sincerely yours.
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NOTE: There has been no prior correspondence but he met the Director
11/4/55. The Director has instructed that absolute circumspection be
utilized in any conversations with Kennedy. He has repdited^ bdjen
somewhat uncooperative in the past. * ' \ <■
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CUBJSCT:
Mr. Boardnan.
A. Rose]
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Oatbi ^September 11, 1956
A-
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BdsMt -
SENATOR JOHN L. McCIELLAN AND Q
SENATE COMMITTEE COUNSEL ROBERT F, KENNEDY
PartMi
Rom*
he »we
Vtaicrtovd
Senator McClellan, Chairman, and Robert F. Kennedy,
Counsel, Persmnent Stfboonnittee on Investigations of the Senate
Government Operations C omit tee, are planning to oall at the
Bureau today.
Trie. *m
UotlMun
Gtsdy
CURRENT SENATE LOBBYING HEARINGS
Senator McClellan and Kennedy say be ealllng with relation
I to the current hearings being conducted by the Senate Lobby Invest 1-
j gating Conmlttee. These hearings have disclosed that salesmen for
the Standard Oil Company of Indiana paid for telegrams sent to
Senator Edward Thye (R.-Mlnn.) urging him to rote for the Natural
Gas Bill. Some of these telegrams were reportedly sent without the
authorisation of the individuals whose names were signed thereto.
These telegrams have been characterised as "forged" by Senator
i McClellan who la quoted in the Washington Post of 9/11/56, to the
I effect that he did not know whether any law had been broken but
/ that the hearings might prove e need for new legislation. Senator
McClellan Is Chairman of the Senate Lobby Investigating Committee.
On the basis of an opinion furnished the Bureau by the
Criminal Division in 1954 as to the applicability of the Lobbying
Statute, It would appear that the transmission of the telegrams under
the circumstances outlined above would not constitute a violation
of this Act. The Criminal Division has Indicated this statute Is
limited to persons who solicit, collect or receive contributions of
money or other thing of value to Influence the passage or defeat
of legislation by Congress.
On the basis of the Information developed during the current ' N -
hearlngs as published In the paper (which Is the only lnforamtion the A
Bureau has concerning the bearings) It would not appear that any t
Federal violation within the Bureau* a jurisdiction Is Involved In ^
I connection with the sending of these telegrams to Senator Thye. We >
would, of course , have to secure a definite legal opinion from the
Department should any speclflo facts he made available to \
CAErDC
( 6 )
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^OS£Hii956
18 SfP 14 1956
NOT RECORDED
133 SEP 14 J956
£
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Memorandum to Mr. Boar damn
fffilOR INVESTIGATION OP CONTRIBUTION
• frOR SENATOR FRANCIS CASE (B.-S.P.)
Investigation was Instituted 2/4/ 56, at the Department *s
request following a disclosure by Senator Francis Case who reported
that John M. Neff had made a $2500 campaign contribution for Case
Immediately preceding the Senate vote on the Natural Gas Bill*
Following our Investigation a Federal Grand Jury In the
District of Colunfcla returned a six -count Indictment on 7/24/56,
charging Neff, Elmer Patman, attorney-lobbyist for the Superior Oil
Company, and the Superior Oil Company Itself with violations of
Bribery, Conspiracy and Lobbying Statutes. Trial set for 11/19/56.
All investigation in this oase has been completed; however,
by memorandum dated 8/2/56, the Criminal Division requested the Bureau
to contaot the Senate Lobby Investigating Committee and secure copies
of question and answer interviews conducted by members of the George
Select Committee with Elmer Patman, John M. Neff and Howard Keck,
President of the Superior Oil Company. The Criminal Division also
requested that we secure copies of any memoranda prepared with
reference to the interviews of these three Individuals. It Is noted
the George Select Connittee conducted the initial inquiry concerning
the contribution to Senator Case; this Committee Is no longer In
existence and its records have been turned over to Its successor,
the Senate Lobby Investigating Consult tee .
Repeated efforts by the Washington Field Office to secure
the documents requested by the Criminal Division have been unsuccessful
Inasmuch as Committee representatives have Indicated the Department *s
request could not be complied with until It was passed upon by
Senator McClellan who was away from Washington for an extended period.
Paul Kamerlok, Chief Investigator for the Lobby Committee,
tele phonics lly advised the Washington Field Office this morning that
with relation to the Department 1 a request Senator McClellan advised
this morning that he had ohecked with the Senate Parliamentarian who
I ruled that the Departments request could be complied with only after
a resolution had been passed by the Senate authorising It. The
Senate, of course, will not be in session until January and the trial
of this case Is tentatively scheduled for 11/19/56* V® are, ©f course,
furnishing to the Criminal Division the Infornatlon received this
morning in this regard.
*
- 2 -
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to Ifc*. Boardamn
rv
^f 1 ? J°5 b ? ^••^Igating Committee le e epeclal
gowdttee. It la headed by Senator McClellan who la alao Chairman
% r b rf tJ ° wrn “ Ilt; Operation* Committee. Robert Kennedy la Counael
°^ v *^ nra ® nt Operations Coomilttee but has no known connection
I^bby Investigating Corvclttee t whose General Counael la
George M. Pay.
our investigation In the Neff case did not
concern itself in any way with the alleged "forged" telegrams
mentioned above. 6
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A
Office Memorandum • united states government
TO
non
« Hr *_ Nicho^T^
date* September 11, 1956
Mm.
Mcfcols ,
Board**
SENATOR JOHN LITTLE MCCLELLAN
(DEMOCRAT - ARKANSAS)
ROBER T FRA NCIS* KENNEDY
MEETING WITH THE DIRECTOR
SEPTEMBER 11, 1956
Parwat .
Rom _
Viuefnfd .
Tele.
Uollomi
Gmdy.
PURPOSE:
Rc_£-
To set forth Identifying data concerning McClellan and Kennedy
who are scheduled to meet with the Director this afternoon, September 11, 1956
Attached is a brief memorandum concerning Kennedy and a summary
concerning*McClellan prepared January 7, 1955. The following is pertinent
information concerning McClellan since the date of the attached summary:
In January, 1956, a name check was conducted for Senator McClellan
on individual being considered for the staff of the Senate Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations. (123-5144-4)
to McClellan
In Februarv^956^^^Nichol£furnishedbackground^M /- 7 /»
\
Pulton Lewis, Jr. , on February 23, 1956, reported that McClellan
had been appointed to the Senate Investigating Committee to Investigate
Lobbying. (62-102987-2)
XU-
\' accompanying chart. (62-98810-731) °
^o >! fin ^ ’ RECORDED -
^ 4 . t Memo from Mr. Olney to the Directa^cfeted 6-25-56 enclose
A 1 1 XI A. A. A. _ « m _ <-iVvvX * ♦ . j __ ^
(7)
In March, 1956, McClellan sent to the Director the report of the
Committee on Government Operations entitled "Organization of
Federal Executive Departments and Agencies" togethef_with -p-f
enclosed a
letter from the Department to McClSfian in his-ettpacity-a s Ch airman
of the Special Committee to Investigate Political Activities, Lobb
and Campaign Contributions. (52-67737-11) SEP 14 1956
The Investigative Division is preparing a separate memorandum m
cerning the specific matter McClellan and Kennedy desire to discuss with the Directoi£
RECOMMENDATION: For information.^AV^ cc - Mr. Nichols
:pac
cc - Mr. Holloman
cc - Mr. Tolson
«• — •
F-> ~i — . 'i - - > *
Or,
September 11, 1956
PURPOSE
imN^fw
Re: ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY
PM
. **■ - fc.
-fr I
Z
t
. 4 -
I *- To furnish brief identifying data concerning Kennedy, Chief Counsel
tor the Senate Investigations Subcommittee, who, along with Senator John McClellan,
may see the Director on this afternoon, September 11, 1956.
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: 3 ofvyil a
JTo It r~ 7 ~ f] ~j r Kennedy 4as born 1 1-20-25 at Boston, Ma ssa chus etts. He attended
Harvard University and the University of Virgini a Law School. He is the son of
Joseph P. Kennedy, former ambassador to England, and the brother of Senator
John F. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts. 1
PREVIOUS CONTACTS WITH THE DIRECTOR:
r
Kennedy talked with the Director apparently on personal matters
on January 28, 1954, and February 15, 1954. He also met with the Director on
11-3-55 and discussed his extended tour of Russia which he had made with
Mr. Justice Douglas the previous summer. The Director noted, "It is quite
I obvious that Mr. Kennedy has returned from Russia with a rather dim impression
of its economy and alleged liberties. "
Kennedy also met with the Director on 4-26-56 and discussed the
pending appearance of Murray Chotiner. Chotiner was the campaign manager for
Vice President Nixon in the 1952 elections, and Kennedy T s committee was con-
sidering calling Chotiner as a witness. Kennedy also inquired of the Director
as to whether the time had come to bring Alger Hiss before his committee. The
Director advised Kennedy that before any such move was made it should be given
very careful study and evaluation and thorough research should be done beforehand.
BUREAU INVESTIGATION OF KENNEDY:
In September, 1951, the Bureau conducted a Departmental applicant
( investigation of Kennedy in connection with a position as attorney in the Criminal
Division. The investigation was favorable and individuals contacted recommended
him highly.
the Annie Lee Moss case and the Director noted, ’’The attitude of Kennedy in this
matter clearly shows need for absolute circumspection in any conversation with
him.” (121-2900-39)
On May 13, 1955, Kennedy was guest on Dave Garroway's television
program and was questioned concerning the Dr. John Peters case. His comments
concerning FJ3I were favorable. (121-4200-167)
Kennedy was contacted by Bureau Agents regarding the testimony of
Harry Lev before Kennedy’s Subcommittee in connection with the manufacture of
military hats and caps. Kennedy was uncooperative and advised he would prefer
waiting until testimony was completed. The Director noted, in part, "Kennedy was
completely uncooperative until after he had squeezed all the publicity out of the
matter he could. ” (46-23395-107)
r
Kennedy, as Chief Counsel for Senate Committee on Government
Operations, sent a letter to the Bureau dated December 20, 1955, requesting
examination of two documents to determine whether they were prepared on the
same typewriter. One document dated June 27, 1955, was on the letterhead
of A. C. Clothing Manufacturing Company, Atlantic City, New Jersey, signed
by Herman P. Kravitz, which was addressed to Kennedy. Letter advised Kennedy
that no improper demands had been made by personnel of A. C. Clothing
Manufacturing Company for the award of contracts. The other document was a
typewritten note with wording similar to letter signed by Kravitz; however, the
second document had been torn into several pieces giving the appearance it had
been retrieved from a wastebasket. Laboratory examination revealed both
documents were prepared on same typewriter. Bufiles reflect Herman Kravits
was found guilty in U. S. District Court, New York City, December 17, 1954,
for embezzlement of Government property and sentenced to pay a $5,000 fine.
Bufiles also reflect Kravitz is listed as an individual who is prohibited from
entering into contractual relationship with the Army. (95-61979-2)
In January, 1956, Kennedy called the Bureau and expressed concern
that a Bureau official had contacted Minority Counsel Juliana rather than himself
concerning a matter of official business. The Director stated as follows: ”1
think Kennedy is basically right. H. ”
- 2 -
Bulet of 9-7-56 to Kennedy expressed the Director's thank a for
Kennedy's note of 8-31-56 and his commendatory remarks regarding the Bureau's
work in connection with the Brink's, Weinberger, and Riesel cases.
*
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datb; March $, 19$7
TO
now
Mr. Ro sen"
C. A. Evans
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ROBERT F. KENNEDY, CHIEF COUNSEL,
SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON IMPROPER
ACTIVITIES IN THE LABOR OR MANAGEMENT FIELD
Tolson
Nichols
Boardman
Belmont __
Hohr
Parsons
Rosen
Tamm , ...
Trotter
L/\r> Nm »* —
f*K T.Ie. Room
Kennedy advised we that he had received a first edition
of the FBI Story as a birthday present last fall. He said it was
a present which he greatly appreciated receiving but that he would
Holloman
Gandy • • —
Kennedy gave we his copy of the book and requested I ask) V*" V
cherish it even more if the Director would autograph it for him*
Kennedy gave we his
the Director to autograph it.
K
1 - crime Records Section
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April 22, 1958
PERSONAL
d>
Mr. R obert F. Kennedy
ChieFCounsel
Select Committee on Improper Activities
in the Labor or Management Field
U. S. Senate
Washington, D. C.
ft H &// /
Dear Bob: _ /!£'??
I have just Earned that you were tie recipient ofC* 3 c
H o
the 1958 Lantern Award, and I wanted to drop you this note to
extend my heartiest congratulations. I was certainly pleased “
that you were afforded this recognition which is richly deserved.
Sincerely,
DO
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CD
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DC
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C-n
1 - Boston(Reurlet 1-27-58)
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NOTE: The fact that Robert F. Kennedy received the Lantern Award
■was learned through a pretext call to Senator John F. Kennedy's officer*
|>n 4-22-58. ,v 2 ~
REG- 61
LH:jcs
*. Parsons,
Rosen
\ Tamm
Trotter-
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He. Room
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WMHMntM, D. C.
May 13, 1958
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Dear Mr. Hoover:
I Mr. Tol«o n l/
I Mr* Board m an
Mr. Belmont u
Br#
KjaE
Hr. Ro»#n
Hr. Tamm
Hr. Tr^uer _
Mr. Clayton
■ Tele. Roo m
Mr. HoU oman_
Hiaa Candy
Thank you very much for your kind note
regarding the Lamp Award in Boston.
I was highly honored - particularly be-
cause I had the privilege of following
you.
Sincerely,
Kennedy
Mr. J. Edgar Hoover
Director
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Department of Justice
Washington, D. C.